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THE LIFE AND LABORS 



OF 



CHARLES H. SPURGEON. 



THE 



LIFE AND LABORS 



OF 



CHARLES H. SPURGEON, 



THE FAITHFUL PREACHER, THE DEVOTED PASTOR, THE 
NOBLE PHILANTHROPIST, THE BELOVED COLLEGE 
PRESIDENT, AND THE VOLUMINOUS 
WRITER, AUTHOR, ETC., ETC. 



COMPILED AND EDITED 

By GEO. C.Q^EDHAM, 

'lEbangeltst, f 

AUTHOR OF "recollections OF HENRY MOOI|HOUSE," "THE TRUE 
TABERNACLE," ETCJk 



/ 



# 



JUL 27 18S2 1) f 

BOSTON: 
D. L. GUERNSEY. 
1882. 






Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year i£8i, 

Bv D. L. Guernsey, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



University Press : 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



PREFACE. 



M 



R. SPURGEON has never written his own life, nor 
has he authorized any one else to do so. He has 
had no personal interest in or connection with any of 
the "Sketches" which have issued from the press. Facts 
of history are, however, common to all, and there is no law 
forbidding publishers to trade in foreign works ; never- 
theless, a moral obligation will bind* every honorable man 
to refrain from piracy. We have acknowledged our in- 
debtedness elsewhere to^ Mr. Steveuson, and we hope his 
valuable little work will become accessible to American 
readers. From Mr. Spurgeon himself we have had gen- 
erous permission to make use of his writings at our own 
discretion. We heartily thank him for this privilege. His 
personal letters have encouraged us in our youthful days 
to persevere in evangelistic labors, while those received in 
later years are precious treasures. With characteristic 
humility he suggests in his latest, " Don't let writing take 
you off from preaching ; I am a poor subject ; keep to the 
Lord Jesus." 

In our careful and conscientious preparation of this book 
we have heeded the sweet counsel of this dear servant of 



VI PREFACE. 

Christ, and have prayerfully labored to make prominent, 
not the disciple, but the Master, and thereby magnify His 
abounding grace. 

We earnestly trust that this form of ministry will, 
" through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory 
of God." 



^^ ; C^ ^ISL^ytiiuu,.^ 



Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

Four Pen Pictures. — The Whitfield of the Nineteenth Century. — Second 
Photograph. — Third Photograph. — Last Photograph. — Letter to his 
Uncle. — Glorying in Grace.- — "The Boy is Father to the Man." — 
A Great Statesman. — Youth and Old Age. — Middle Life. — *' All my 
Springs are in Thee." — Pastor James H. Brookes. — Mr„ Spurgeon 
in the Dingy Chapel. — His Prayer. — The Sermon. — "Thank God 
for Spurgeon ! " — A Flash of Genius. — Sensational Preachers. — Mr. 
Spurgeon is a Manly Man. — Herculean Labors. • — Dr. Chalmers. — A 
Living Man. — Bishop Nicholson. — A Pastor's Testimony. — A Many- 
sided Man. — Mr, Spurgeon's Personal History. — Motives in this 
Work. — Mr. Spurgeon's Example. — Teaching of the Great Preacher, 
— The Bible. — Business Men who need a Book. — Wit and Homely 
Wisdom. — " A Labor of Love '* ^ , 



CHAPTER II. 

ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 

History of Mr. Spurgeon to his Forty-third Birthday. — Ancestors. — Great 
Grandfather. — Grandfather. — A Long Pastorate. — Great Usefulness. 

— Buckled Shoes and Silk Stockings. — The Father of Charles. — Per- 
sonal Worth and Ministerial Ability. — - The Beloved Mother. — Charley 
a Baptist. —June 19, 1834, their Son Charles born.— A Noble Mother. 
" The Children will be cared for," — Precocity. — Richard Knill's 
Prophecy. — The Bottomless Pit. — Mr. Knill and the Lad. — Strange 
Fulfilment. — Sowing beside all Waters. — Aunt Ann. — " Old Bonner." 

— School. — Reason and Revelation . . - » 21 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IIL 

CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 

Deep Conviction. — Heart broken in Pieces. — One Snowy Day. — " Look, 
look, look ! " — How to preach. — A Bit for Boys. — A Grateful Heart. 
— Baptism. — Consecration. — First Sermon. — Results. — First Pas- 
torate. — Cornelius Elven. — Hindered from going to College. — An 
Aversion to College. — Sunshine. — Poem at Age of Eighteen • • • 35 



CHAPTER IV. 

CALL TO LONDON. 

The Youthful Evangehst. — Mr. Spurgeon came, preached, conquered. — 
The Congregation stirred. — Letters to the Church. — Six Months'' Invi- 
tation. — The Small Minority. — I accept it. — Fame of the Young Min- 
ister. — Who is this Spurgeon ? — Asiatic Cholera. — The Shoemaker's 
Window. — Publication of Sermons. — The Preacher's Style. — A 
. Quaker's Criticism. — Exeter Hall. — First Visit to Scotland. — Open- 
air Sermon. — Anne Sims. — Watchnight Service. — Clergymen using 
his Sermons , 49 



CHAPTER V. 

ABUNDANT IN LABORS 

Marriage. — Twin Boys.— New Park-street Chapel enlarged. — Royal 
Surrey Gardens Music Hall. — The Great Tabernacle. — The Aris- 
tocracy. — Membership in Ten Years, 3,569. — The Queen of Holland. 

— Invited to America. — " Nor would I receive Money for Preaching." 

— Twenty Thousand formed the Preacher's Audience. — Fen Pictures. 

— Incessant Duties. —The First Student.— " Married Love" ... 63 



CHAPTER VI. 

REVIVALS. 

" Our Own Hymn Book." — The Colportage Association. — "Spurgeonism." 
— Mr. Spurgeon in Paris. — Costermongers. — " Wot a Woice ! " — Im- 
mense Congregations in the Agricultural Hall. —Visit to Heligoland <. 73 



CONTENTS, IX 

CHAPTER VII. 

MULTIPLYING WORK. 

The Orphan Houses. — A Great Festival. — '' On my Back." — His Brother 
Co-Pastor. — Prophetic Words of Richard Knill. — A Dark Shadow.— 
Strange Tales. — "A Black Business.'^ — Small-Pox. —Encouraging 
Pastors. — Remarkable Energy and Activity. — Visit to Italy. — King 
Victor Immanuel. — "Feathers for Arrows." — The Bible as a Daily 
School-Book * 8i 

CHAPTER VIII. 

RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 

Additions to the Church. — Jersey and Guernsey. — Telegram from Bos- 
ton. — A Second Tabernacle. — Membership in 1873,4,417. — Well done, 
Pastor Spurgeon! — The Jubilee Singers. — Strange and Interesting 
Facts. — Helping Newman Hall. — Literary Labors. — The New College 91 

CHAPTER IX. 

TRIALS AND DELIVERANCESc 

Debts paid, but Bank empty. — George Miiller. — Mr. Spurgeon in Bed- 
ford. — Smoking to the Glory of God. — A Noble Reply. — Charles and 
Thomas. — Declining a Testimonial. — " Twenty Years of Published 
Sermons." — Twofold Marvel. — Generous Distributions. — Gout. — 
Messrs. Moody and Sankey. — Best Remedy against Infidelity. — The 
Cabman and the Testament. — A Great Grief 99 

CHAPTER X. 

DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 

The Work of Mrs. Bartlett. — '•' House of Mercy. ' — November Fogs in 
London. — Dr. Brock and Mr. Spurgeon. — Weekly Offerings. — Grand- 
father, Father, and Son. — The Pastor's Birthday. — Five Spurgeons 
dehvered Addresses. — The College Tutor and the Young Man. — " Laid 
Aside. Why?" — "The Tabernacle .was as full as a Barrel packed 
with Herrings." — Mr. Spurgeon in Scotland. — Rescue the Perishing. 
— Assailed by some Newspapers. — A Letter from Austria. — Mr. 
Spurgeon addresses Merchants and Business Men. —Controversy. — • 
A Flower Mission. —Variety of Agencies. — Extensive Benevolence 
and Philanthropy. — Forty-third Birthday. — The Pastoral Silver Wed- 
ding. — The Almshouses Ill 



X CONTENTS. 

! 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 

History of the Church. — Modest Ministers. — Best Excuse for Writing a 
History. — The Church born in Stormy Times. — 1645. — First Pastor. 
Oliver Cromwell. — Benjamin Keach. — Keach upon the Pillory. — The 
Cross is the Way to the Crown. — A Voluminous Writer. — Remarkable 
Answer to Prayer. — Benjamin Stinton. — John Gill. — The Great Lin- 
guist. — "I neither thought it, nor bought it, nor sought it." — Two New 
Tunes. — David's Tunes. — The Jokes were Ponderous. — The Scissors 
and the Long Tongue. — Not afraid to be Poor. — John Rippon. — 
An Address to George III. — Two Ministers during One Hundred 
and Seventeen Years. — Joseph Angus. — James Smith. — "Just like a 
Packet that is all ready." — Charles H. Spurgeon. — The Tabernacfe. 

— James Spurgeon. — A Working Church. — Tabernacle Building Fund. 

— Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund. — Various Missions . . .' . . . .125 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 

Colleges a Bane or a Blessing. — "Schools of the Prophets." — First- 
born and Best Beloved. — Mode of training Preachers. — Our Principal 
Tutor. — Carriage for Sale. — The Last Pound. — Forty Students. — 
Great Trial of Faith. — All-sufficient Provider. — A Miracle if all should 
excel. — Plan of Separate Lodging. — Eighty to One Hundred. — Efficient 
Tutors. — The Good Earl of Shaftesbury. — Various Ways in which 
God has answered Prayer. — Suitable and Commodious New Build- 
ings. — Large Amounts. — Laus Deo 147 



CHAPTER Xin. 

PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 1881. 

Paganini. — Gratitude writ Large. — Experiment of Doddridge.— Semina- 
ries of Socinianism. — Applicants not tempted by Rich Livings. — Scholar- 
ship. — Diamonds found in the Rough. — Some were induced to run 
away. — One of the Donkeys. — J. A. Spurgeon, Vice-President. — 
Weeding Work. — Stir up the Holy Fire. — How few ever pray for Stu- 
dents ! — Rank and File. — The Antipodes.— Letter from Austraha. — 
Fidelity to Christ. — Loving Epistle from Canada. — We " Shake Hands 
across the Vast."^ Evangelists for India. — Balance at the Banker's . . 161 



CONTENTS. xi 

CHAPTER XIV. 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

It has stirred our Soul. — An Eccentric Judge. — The Rousing Signal of 
Nelson. — Parade is ended. — A Great German Philosopher. — Playing 
Croquet or Cricket. — The Moujik. — A Quaker. — " Do thee know how 
thee might draw Eleven Butts .?" — First get the Light. — A Great 
Advantage to a Minister. — A Brain is a very Hungry Thing. — Stars 
and Human Bones. — "More Light, Lord!" — A Little Comfortable 
Misery. — Talleyrand. — Blondin on the Tight Rope. — Keep the Light 
burning in Your Churches. — Heavenly Fire. — A Lukewarm Sermon. 
— The Apes and the Glowworm. — Energy. — Kindled from on High. — 
Wholly the Lord's. — Swans out of the Water. — The Head and not 
the Tail 173 



CHAPTER XV. 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS {^Coiitmued). 

Fixity of Belief — Boasting is Sorry Work. — Rally to the Old Standard. 
— The Sweetest Frame. — Leo X. — Pluck. — Regiment of Giants. — 
Expecting the Blessing. — Believe your own Doctrine. — The Alarm- 
Bell. — The Living God should be served by Living Men. — Preparing 
a Sermon. — Two Important Persons. — Greeks are always Youths. — 
Ornamental Waters. — Love is Power. — Love your Work. — Slocum- 
in-the-Marsh. — Soul-Winning a Passion. — The Golden Bribe. — Effi- 
cient Preachers. — Entire Surrender. — Our Watchword i! 



CHAPTER XVI. 

STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 

The Care of the Orphan. — Mrs. Hillyard's Offer of $100,000. — Founda- 
tions laid. — Silver- Wedding House. — Merchant's House. — Work- 
men's House. — Unity House. — College House. — Testimonial House. 

— Selling Household Plate. — Munificent Gifts. — Selecting Orphans. 

— The Management. — Many Applicants. — Various Gifts. — Encour- 
aging Results. — Health of the Inmates 205 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

ANNUAL REPORT, 1881. 

Twelfth Report. — Faith in God. — Special Providence. — The Ever- 
opened Hand. — Sanitary Condition. — Family Worship. — Total 
Abstainers. — Christian Sympathy. — Song Services. — Spontaneous 
Benevolence. — Caring for the Widow and Fatherless. — " The Ser- 
mon House." — " The Limes." — " The Olives." — A Great Square. — 
Memorials. ...*.,..' 217 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE. 

The Late Testimonial. — "Go Forward." — Never been in Debt. — A 
Grand Opportunity. — The Lord will provide. — One Thousand Dollars 
a Week. — Five Hundred Little Ones. — A Reasonable Service . . . 227 

CHAPTER XIX. 

SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 

Removed by Death. — A Heritage of Disease. — Dying Experiences. — 
Child-piety of the Theorists. — Ernest Bray. — Soul-Winning, — Deep- 
seated Disease. — "It looks More Shining!" — "I shall sing out 
Loud." — Your Loving Brother. — Happy now. — "I am ready." — 
" Dear Mr. Spurgeon." — " Dear Bray." — " Bray's Bricks." — Plum 
Cake. — Jesus, come quickly. — " There 's Jesus !"-—" Happy, happy, 
happy ! " — Mr. Gough. — Gymnastic Exercises. — A Penny apiece. 

— The Sick Boy. — The Prayer. — The Greater and Grander Man. 

— Aim of the Managers 233 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 

The Object of this Association. — Unsectarian in its Operations. —^ The 
Printing- Press. — Pernicious Literature. — Reports from Superinten- 
dents. — Distributed 4,620 Tracts. — Practical Usefulness of the Col- 
portage Work. — The Untabulated Results. — Sold 289 Bibles and 1,229 
Testaments. — Prevalence of Evil Literature and its Cure. — Conver- 
sions through Books. — Gratuitous Tract Distribution and its Results. — 

— The Pipe-Light. — Mr. Spurgeon's Sermons. — Prayer under the 
Hedge. — Preaching the Gospel from House to House. — Addressing 
the Colliers. — The Colporteur's Sabbath. — Conversion Work. — The 
Colporteur and Temperance. — Branch of the Great Tree 249 



CONTENTS. Xlll 



CHAPTER XXI. 
««THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL." 

Seventeenth Volume. — The Word and the Work. — Vein of Humor. — 
" I wish I had a Mother to come after Me ! " — " Launching Out." — 
''Jock and his Mither."— Mr. Spurgeon's Preface. — The Editor.— 
Warm-hearted Brotherhood. — The Hand of the Lord. — Material for 
Preachers. — Our Watchword still is Forward. — "The Hornless Dea- 
con,"— Deacons a Much-abused Order of Men. — A Hornless Deacon 
is one who cannot give Offence. — The Ram's Horn. — We sometimes 
drink out of a Horn. — Our Yankee Brethren have a Vivacious Style 
of Speech. — " More Ways of killing a Cat than by choking of him 
with Cream." — Soup for a Grasshopper. — Modern Collegians.— 
Gooseberries twice as Large as Possible. —The Common Slang of the 
Day.— Highly colored Descriptions. — Leave the Monstrous Goose- 
berries to the Newspapers. — " The Art of Tormenting." — Reconciled 
to being Corpulent.— A Back of Leather laughs at the Cat-o'-nine-tails» 
— Bane and Antidote 26 



CHAPTER XXn. 

EDITORIALS; 

Our First Sermon.— Many came to hear "The Boy." — Recruiting 
Sergeant. — A cunningly devised Sentence. — Fairly committed to do 
my Best, — -'" Bless your Dear Heart, how old are You ? " — Mute as 
Fishes.— The Prim Little Man. — Tv^^enty-five Years Ago. — Always 
Knew that his Minister would be run away with. — The Toll-Gate. — ■ 
The Youth from the Country. — The Great Divines. — Solitary Misery. 

— Amazed at our own Temerity. — • The Lion has been looked at. — 
The Review. — Handful gleaned among the Sheaves. — Five Thousand 

• Souls. — Not Another Gospel. — Hundreds of Young Men trained for 
the Ministry. — Evangelists. — Orphans have been fed. — An Army of 
Colporteurs. — ''What hath God wrought ?" — The Testimonials will go 
to support the Aged Sisters. — Sweet Fruit from a Thorny Tree. — 
The Bitter Box. — Pain teaches us our Nothingness. — We are most 
of us far too great. — Heavy Sickness and Crushing Pain. — The Win- 
dows shut which look towards Earth. — Pearls are bred in the Oyster 
by Disease. — Pain, if sanctified, creates Tenderness towards Others. — 
The Keys of Men's Hearts. — Pain has a Tendency to make us Grate- 
ful. — Jehovah Rophi. — Bruise, Lord. — Cast Anchor under the Shelter 
of Cape Fellowship. — Address to Students.— Ministers' Afflictions. 

— Sir Francis Drake. — A Great Pugilist. — Diagoras the Rhodian. 

— Against hastening to remove from the Post of Duty. — 



xiv CONTENTS. 

" The Roundest Peg seldom fits into the Roundest Hole without some 
Paring." — Change has Charms to Some Men. — No Position without its 
Disadvantages. — "Brownie is in the Churn." — "Jack of all Trades." 
— " Should such a man as I flee ? " — The Hole is Round Enough , 275 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES BY MR. SPURGEON. 

Visiting the Poor. — Joseph Cook. — Rather a Sly Poke, Mr. Cook. — 
Novel-Readers. — The Back Slums. — Salt wants to be rubbed in. — 
Ennui. — Society Wants to be made into a Stirabout. — A Continual 
Tooth-Drawing. — Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. — Utterances in Prayer- 
Meetings. — Oh, that the Tooth were Out!— The Click, Clack, Click, 
Clack of a Fluent Female. — Doctrinal Error. — The Famous Dog 
of Nile. — The Artificial Flash of Culture. — A Lifeless Plain in the 
Heart of Persia. — So-called Scientific Men. — On George MUlleRo — 
The Noblest Work of God. — Personified Order. — Mr. MUller gives us 
the Idea of Enoch. — He is no Monk. — He is too Bright for our Pen- 
cil. — With Speculations he does not intermeddle. — He enjoys Life to 
the Utmost. — Pastorless Flocks- — Sheep without a Shepherd. — A 
Supply Committee. — Spurgeon refuses to be imported. — Inflating 
Ministers. — The Church and its Status. — "The Conservative Working 
Man,'' — Story of the Boy in the Wood. — Catch a Minister Young 
and train him. — Better No Man than the Wrong Man. — Look up as 
well as look around. — Praise of Men. — " There are that kiss and 
kill.'^_The Boa-Constrictor. — Mr. Kilpin, of Exeter. — It is well to 
have a Thick Skin. — You may choke a Dog with Pudding. — Be not 
Discouraged. — Despondency. — Joy. — Peril from the Pulpit. — The 
dog in the Grotto del Cane. — The Tradesman. — The Wizard. — Meum 
and Tmim. — On being in Time. — Wasting a full hour. — " The late 
Mr. S ."—The PunctuaHty Association 299 



CHAPTER XXIV, 

REVIEWS. 

Our After-Dinner Pause. — "Feast of Reason."— Papers, Pens, and Ink, 
^History of the Teacup. — Examination of the Doctrines of Condi- 
tional Immortahty and Universahsm. — The Unsafe Anchor. — A New 
Basis of Belief in Immortality. — The Epoch of the Mammoth. — Popu- 
lar Recreation. — Studies in Matthew. — What is Truth ? — The Father- 
hood of God. — A Man, every Inch of Him. — Poor Papa. — Everlast- 



CONTENTS. ~ XV 

ing Punishment not Everlasting Pain. — Cough's Portrait. — Christianity 
and the Science of Rehgion. — The Christian's Plea against Modern 
Unbehef. — Works of Fiction. — Holydays and Holidays. — The Doc- 
trine of Annihilation, etc. — John Ploughman's Talk. — The Unwel- 
come Baby. — Crocker the Clown. — The Masque torn off. — Infidelity 
refuted. — Companion to the Revised Version of the English New 
Testament. — A Reason for the Hope that is in You. — The Philosophy 
of Science, Experience, and Revelation. — Sermons. — Social Purity. 
— Thought Blossoms. — On a Book on Cookery. — A Book of Remem- 
brance in Relation to the Mystery of God 325 



CHAPTER XXV. 
LETTERS. 

Mr. Spurgeon's Voluminous Correspondence. — From Sydney. — Victoria. 

— South Africa. — Denmark. — North America. — Florida. — Michigan. 

— Quebec. — Fifteen-Hundredth Sermon. — A Cheering Note. — Rus- 
sia. — India. — Germany. — France. — A Fisherman. — China. — Tennes- 
see. — A Young Swiss Lady. — Results in Germany and Russia. — Vir- 
ginia. — Dr. Alexander Keith. — Jersey. — Glasgow. — Mr. Spurgeon's 
Chinese Name, " Sze-Pah-jing." — The Spare Leaf. — One Volume of 
Sermons. — Ireland. — South Australia. — Jamaica. — The Scilly Isles. 

— Extraordinary Appeal on Behalf of Sailors, 345 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

PERSONAL NOTES. 

How the "Notes" are received. — President Garfield. — Burden for Souls. 
— A Specimen Week. — Sermon 1,351. — Dr. Carson's Testimony. — 
Sermon 1,461. — Sermon 399. — Spurgeon reduced to Sixpence. — Sharp 
Pains. — Saying Good-by to Son Thomas.— A French Nobleman.— 
Sermon No. 444. — Sermon No. 86. — A Sea- Captain. — Misrepresenta- 
tions. — Dr. Livingstone's Yellow Relic. — Sowing Seed in Servia. — 
Mr. Spurgeon Nervous. — Canon Wilberforce and Lord Radstock. — 
Christmas Fesdvities. — Hip, Hip, Hurrah ! —New York Baptist Mini- 
sters' Conference. — Spontaneous Sympathy appreciated 363 



xvi CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 

If the Cap fits, wear it — Will Shepherd and Joe Scroggs. — Hope. 

— Jack Shiftless. — Simple Simon. — Hopes of Heaven. — A Handsaw 
IS a Good Thing, but not to shave with. — On Patience. - 
Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman. — All are not Hunters 
THAT BLOW THE HoRN. — ManyaD. D. is Fiddle-de-dee. — He lives 
under THE Sign of the Cat's Foot. — A Good Word for Wives. 

— Darby and Joan. — William Seeker's " Wedding-Ring." — Old Blue- 
beard. — Stick to it and do it. — Men with Two Faces. — The 
Vicar of Bray. — Religious Deceivers. — Hypocrites. — All is lost 
that is poured into a Cracked Dish. — Try. — Beware of the 
Dog. — Heads and Tails. — Beware of a Dirty Dog. — Snarling Dogs. 

— Fawning Dogs. — Puppies. — Greedy Dogs. — Yelping Dogs. — Dogs 
that worry the Sheep. — Dogs without a Master. — "Without are Dogs." 
A Black Hen lays a White Egg.- — He has a Hole under his 
Nose, and his Money runs into it. — Drunkards, read This. — He 
has got the Fiddle, but not the Stick. — Thoughts about 
Thought.— Free Thoughts. — Bad Thoughts. — Great Cry and 
Little Wool. — Mrs. Too-good. — You can't catch the Wind 
in a Net. — On the Preacher's Appearance. — Never stop 
THE Plough to catch a Mouse. — Home. — Don't cut off your 
Nose to spite your Face. — Like Cat like Kit. — Very Igno- 
rant People. — Mr. and Mrs. Gent. — Mr. Plausible. — Sneering at 
Religion. — He looks One Way and pulls the Othek. — Debt. — 
A MAN in a Passion, rides a Horse that runs away with him. 

— Every Bird likes its Own Nest 3C1 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 

Ladies' Dress. — Extravagance. — Isaiah's Description. — Peter's Coun- 
sel. — Covering Deformity. — " Neat Handsomeness." — Man-Millin- 
ery. — The Race and its Spectators. — Oxford and Cambridge. — 
The Olympian Games. — The Cloud of Witnesses. — A Fox in the 
Pulpit. — Popular Caricature. — The Evil wrought by one Man. — 
Conscientious Separation. — Time-serving. — Erasmus. — Tempt- 
ing Temptation. — Review at Aldershot. — The Unalterable Flag. 
— Religious Sluggards. — The Shilling Religion. — The With- 
ering OF Unbelief. — Unbelief an Unhealthy Plant. — Moore's 
Remonstrance. — Lord John Russell. — The Path of the Pope. — 



CONTENTS. xvil 

The Cardinal's Curse. — Pio Nono's Bulls. — Pearls. — History of 
a Pearl. — The Disappointed Merchant. — Fickleness of Mankind. 
— The Scale-Maker. — Short Weights. — Deserters. — Temporary 
Alarm of Soul. — Nomhial Disciples. — How the Visible Church is 
weakened. — "Have ye counted the Cost?" — Best Preparation 
FOR the Second Advent. — The Dark Day. — Davenport of Stam- 
ford. — The Humble Sister. — The Most Fitting Condition for Death 
or Glory 481 



. CHAPTER XXIX. 

MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 

Avoiding Fulsome Eulogies. — Mrs. Spurgeon's Mission. — Her Peculiar 
Ministry. — The Book Fund. — Poor Ministers are the Rule. — "Work- 
ers with a Slender Apparatus." — Previous Testimony. — Warm Grati- 
tude evoked. — The Clover Field. —The Longed-for Treasure. — 
Pastors' Aid Society. — Wifely Eulogy. — " Prince of her Life." — 
"Red-Letter Day." — The Lord's Tender Care. — Mr. Spurgeon's 
Letter. — John Ploughman and John Goagh. — Clothing for Pastors' 
Families. — "How shall I praise Him ? "^- Suffering and Service. — 
Living for Others. — The Good Old Corn of Canaan. — Bookless Pas- 
tors. — Mrs. Spurgeon's Fine Sympathy. — The Missionary Working 
Society. — Annual Report. — Extracts from Letters. — Imprisoned 
Music. — Sweet Comfort . • • 51/ 



CHAPTER XXX. 
CHARLES SPURGEON. 

(twin son of C. H. SPURGEON.) 

Birth. — Study. — Conversion. — Cry from Macedonia. — Commercial Life. 

— Pastors' College. — Call to Greenwich. — Marriage. — Sermon on 
Holy Arithmetic. — Trinity of Blessings. — Mercy, Peace, and Love. 

— Addition. — Multiplication. — Practice. — Sacred Penmanship. — 
Self-Praise. — Requisites for Writing. — Pen. — Ink. —Paper. —The 
Readers. — Three Classes. — Intelligent. — Interested. — Inquisitive. 

— Be Mindful of Little Things 539 



xvm CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THOMAS SPURGEON. 

(twin son of C. H. SPURGEON.) 

Known as a Writer. — Engraving. — Preaching. — Sailing to Australia. — 
New Zealand. — Tom the Ploughboy. — Grape-Shot. — Cuts of the 
Whip. — " If I feel Moody I sing Sankey." — The Horses say " Neigh." 

— He told us Nothing New. — Hearing Young Spurgeon. — The 
Malcontent. — What did the Grumbler look for? — "The same Old 
Stuff." — Primordial Slime. — Old-Fashioned Theology played out. — 
" You pays your Money and you takes your Choice." — The Tale of 
Calvary. — He 's not a bit like a Parson. — The Important Ecclesi- 
astic. — Officialism. — " His Reverence." — The Non- Parsonic Brother. 

— The Scoffer won to Jesus. — Christ-like Humility and Christian Dig- 
~ nity. — Could not pray without Candles. — The Blanket-Bearer. — Go 

and do Likewise. — Jesus for Me. — The Deaf Old Man. — The 
Floweret. — The Bleating Lamb. — The Sea-Bird. — The Spark. — The 
Matron 553 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

SERMONS. 

Our Difficulty, — "The Treasury of David." — How to obtain it. — Un- 
charitable Preachers. — Mr. Spurgeon's Testimony. — The Bible. — 
God's Complaint. — Long-Suffering. — Its Author. — Who wrote the 
Book? — Preachers who are Short of Stock. — Free Thought. — Au- 
thority of the Bible. — Its Truthfulness. — Mr. Hume and the Moon. — 
Bible Subjects. — All Things are Great — The Three R's. — The 
Treatment which the Bible receives. — "So Horribly Dry." — Who 
hates the Bible ? — God's Cabinet. — The Eternal Name. — The 
Name of Jesus. — Evanescent Shadows. — Systems of Infidelity. — The 
Gospel before Bethlehem. — The Gospel tried. — Voltaire. — The Uni- 
tarian's Gospel. — Can Christ's Name be forgotten ? — The Power of His 
Name. — Whitfield and Wesley. — England may perish. — Christ's 
Name shall endure. — Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! — Crown Him Lord of All! 573 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 



1. Pastor C. H. Spurgeon {Frontispiece). page 

2. Birthplace of C. H. Spurgeon 27 

3. Mr. Spurgeon at the Age of Twenty-one sd 

4. Surrey Music Hall 66 

5. James Archer Spurgeon, Co-Pastor 84 

6. The Metropolitan Tabernacle 125 

7. Benjamin Keach 130 

8. Keach in the Pillory 131 

9. Carter-lane Chapel 134 

10. DccTOR John Gill 136 

11. John Rippon in his Youth 138 

12. New Park-street Chapel 142 

13. George Rogers .151 

14. The Pastors' College 158 

15. Stockwell Orphanage for Boys 208 

16. The Girls' Orphanage 231 

17. Infirmary of Stockwell Orphanage 238 

18. Stockwell Orphanage Playground 245 

19. Colporteur and Bible Carriage 258 

20. The Cottage in which Mr. Spurgeon preached his first 

Sermon '..... 278 

21. Residence of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon 366 

22. If the Cap fits, wear it 384 

23. A Handsaw is a good Thing, but not to shave with . . 389 

24. All are not Hunters that blow the Horn ...... 395 

25. He lives under the Sign of the Cat's-paw 398 



XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

26. Stick to it and do it . 409 

27. All is lost that is poured into a cracked Dish .... 419 

28. Beware of the Dog 425 

29. A Black Hen lays a White Egg 430 

30. He has a Hole under his Nose, and his Money runs into it 432 

31. He has got the Fiddle, but not the Stick ...... 436 

32. Great Cry and Little Wool 440 

33. You can"t catch the Wind in a Net 443 

34. Never stop the Plough to catch a Mouse 448 

35. Don't cut off your Nose to spite your Face 455 

36. Like Cat, like Kit . 457 

37. He looks one Way, and pulls the other 465 

38. A Man in a Passion rides a Horse that runs away with him 474 

39. Every Bird likes its own Nest 476 

40. Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon 517 

41. Charles Spurgeon (Son of Pastor Spurgeon) 539 

42. Thomas Spurgeon (Son of Pastor Spurgeon) 553 

43. Interior of the Metropolitan Tabernacle 573 



INTRODUCTORY. 



Behold, at this hour our moral history is being preserved for eternity. 
Processes are at work which will perpetuate our every act and word and 
thought. Not alone the last page, but every Hne and letter of our actual 
history, is being stereotyped for the world's perusal in the day which shall 
reveal the secrets of men. We are not writing upon the water, but carving 
upon imperishable material. The chapters of our history are " graven with 
an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever." — C. H. Spurgeon. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



WE first introduce the preacher as he was when, in early 
manhood, both his manner and matter startled England 
out of her reverie, and awoke many sleepers on distant shores. 
A Bristol college man gives us four pen pictures of Mr. Spurgeon, 
taken a quarter of a century ago, and kept ever since in the album 
of memory. To those who did not see the Evangelist-pastor in 
his younger days, these photographs will be full of interest; to 
those who have neither heard nor seen h'im, they present the man 
in early life in all the vigor and power of fresh manhood. After 
seeing a picture, we become interested in the subject and present 
our inquiries. The antecedents of IVPr. Spurgeon, and his subse- 
quent history, will be given later on. Remember, the pictures 
are those of a very young man, whose career had already been 
watched for some time with absorbing interest by millions of 
people. Thus the college man writes : — 

It was from tl^e lips of my tutor, who was an earnest Christian 
man as well as an able scholar, that I first heard the name of the 
popular minister who had even then made New Park Street Church 
famous. It was my last year at school, and I enjoyed rather more 
liberty than the other boys. Need I add that, after receiving the 
permission, it was not long before I was trying to make my way 
into the pretty, and then newly built, chapel where Mr. Hebditch 
preached? The place was quite full, and it was with difificulty that 
I managed to ensconce myself behind the pulpit. A few minutes 
afterwards, Mr. Spurgeon ascended the latter, and I saw for the 



4 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

first time the preacher who was to be the Whitfield of the nine- 
teenth century. My recollection of the appearance of the youth- 
ful divine is very vivid. Already inclined to be stout, with a face 
somewhat pale,- and innocent of beard or mustaches, but often 
played over by a genial smile which won your confidence at once, 
with fearless, kindly eyes that told of the bold spirit and warm 
heart within, with black hair lightly tossed off the open brow, with 
gestures rather more frequent and rhetorical than those with which 
the great preacher now indulges, the hand being often uplifted, 
and with that rich, round, full yoice which has never failed to 
charm with its music those who have had the privilege of listening 
to it, I still see and hear Mr. Spurgeon as he preached that morn- 
ing at the chapel. The point in the sermon which remained clear 
in my mind was the very pronounced teaching of the doctrine of 
Election, and the preacher's assertion of his being at one with. 
Calvin and Augustine, of whom, as well as of the doctrine, my 
knowledge at that time was by no .means extensive. At the close 
of the sermon, as Mr. Spurgeon stepped down from the pulpit, 
everybody made a rush at his unfortunate hand ; and I, by poking 
mine through the rails, managed to get a friendly shake from it. 
I have often thought since, when seeing Mr. Spurgeon coming 
down from other pulpits, or among his own people at the Taber- 
nacle, or surrounded by friends on successive birthdays, how much 
he must have suffered in that way during all these years. 

My second photograph was taken one morning in dim, dark 
surroundings at the back of the gloomy gallery at Counterslip 
Chapel, when I looked down upon a vast congregation below and 
around me, and upon the pulpit at the other end of the chapel. 
Mr. Spurgeon entered the pulpit accompanied by the venerable 
Mr. Winter, who was at that time m.inister of the Counterslip, and 
whose knee-breeches and patriarchal form will be remembered by 
many. The sermon left on my mind a sense of the joy with Avhich 
he preached and of the fulness oi faith in which he uttered his 
message ; the striking originality and the wealth of the imagina- 
tion of the preacher were features which could not escape even 
such a juvenile critic as I was at that time. But I was not a critic, 
I was a rapt and enthusiastic hearer. Never shall I forget the 



INTRODUCTORY. ' 5 

passage in the sermon in which Mr. Spurgeon made us hear \\\^ 
angels harping with their harps, and with a touch of simpHcity 
but great power told us how he always stopped in the streets to 
listen where a harp was being played in the neighborhood. I still 
see the rapturous look upon the upturned face of the youthful 
preacher as the light from one of the windows fell upon it. I am 
inclined to think that Mr. Spurgeon gave a little more play to his 
imagination then than now. 

Now for my third photograph. This time I am standing on 
tiptoe at the back of the Broad Mead Rooms, trying to look 
above a great sea of heads at the crowded platform and the young 
preacher, whom all are so eager to hear that there is no little 
confusion and hustling around the doors. But soon Mr. Spur- 
geon's voice rolls through the spacious room and hushes all into 
silence. The Broad Mead Rooms form a large building, with a 
somewhat low roof, and with side galleries rising from the floor 
and capable of holding between two and three thousand people. 
On the night of which I speak, many must have failed to obtain 
admission. One instance in connection with this sermon is perhaps 
worth mentioning. Some seats had been reserved and a small 
charge made for them, in order to defray the expense incurred 
by hiring the rooms. This had been made a matter of complaint ; 
and Mr, Spurgeon, alluding to it, remarked that he had heard of 
a lady at Exeter who had given a guinea in order to hear the 
gospel preached. The perfect simplicity and honesty with which 
this was said, and the very unconsciousness of its being capable 
of being twisted into anything like self-glorification, impressed 
everybody with that utter losing sight of himself In his work 
which has ever since been so grand a characteristic of Mr. Spur- 
geon's ministry. I may add that at this time the Bristol papers 
were full of letters and articles respecting Mr. Spurgeon's preach- 
ing, not a few containing a good deal of hostile criticism. One 
article, and that in a Tory journal, however, stands out in my 
memory as containing a very vivid, and, I am disposed to think, 
fairly impartial account of an open-air service conducted by Mr. 
Spurgeon on the quay. A storm came on during the service, and 
Mr. Spurgeon spoke of one of the flashes of lightning as '' God's 



6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

'Spear in the sky." This struck the writer as being a singularly 
happy expression — a flash of genius. 

M.^ last photograph was also taken in a public building, in the 
beautiful Victoria Rooms at Clifton, which are said to be capable 
of containing some six thousand people. However that may 
be, they could not have held more than they did on the summer 
evening when I heard Mr. Spurgeon preach in them. I do not 
think I have mentioned that at that period Mr. Spurgeon was in 
the habit of wearing a white necktie of the most correct parsonic 
character, which, being of fair dimensions and surmounted by a 
stand-up collar, served, with its virgin whiteness to at least set the 
beardless face in strong relief. I mention it now, as it forms a 
prominent feature in my recollection of Mr. Spurgeon's appear- 
ance upon that evening, sitting, as I did, at some distance from, 
but directly in front of the platform. The scene presented by the 
densely crowded Victoria Rooms upon this occasion, with the 
platform filled by ministers, in front of whom stood the earnest 
and youthful preacher, was one which still shows clearly through 
all the years that have passed since then. The golden glow of 
the setting sun coming through the window lent to it, too, a sin- 
gular impressiveness : for the text was, " Thou God seest me ; " 
and as we listened to the heart-searching eloquence of the speaker, 
the warm light which flooded the room seemed almost to place us 
more fully within the vision of the all-seeing eye. 

In his fifteenth year Mr. Spurgeon wrote the following letter to 
his uncle, in which the vigor of his mind, the boldness of his faith, 
and the strength of his will are clearly manifest. His theological 
opinions at that early age were decided and outspoken. The in- 
definite doctrinal teaching of the pulpit to-day may well receive 
a rebuke from the positive assertions of a child. In no period 
of his life has Mr. Spurgeon declared himself an Agnostic, — a 
" know-nothing." For many reasons this letter is worthy of our 
perusal : — 

My dear Uncle, — Dumb men make no mischief. Your si- 
lence, and my neglect, make one think of the days when letters 



INTRODUCTORY. / 

were costly, and not of penny postage. You have doubtless heard 
of me as a top-tree Antinomian. I trust you know enough of me 
to disbelieve it. It is an object of my life to disprove the slander. 
I groan daily under a body of sin and corruption. Oh for the time 
when I shall drop this flesh, and be free from sin ! I become more 
and more convinced that to attempt to be saved by a mixed 
covenant of works and faith is, in the words of Berridge, "to-yoke 
a snail with an elephant." I desire to press forward for direction 
to my Master in all things; but as to trusting to my own obe- 
dience and righteousness, I should be worse than a fool and ten 
times worse than a madman. Poor dependent creatures ! prayer 
had need be our constant employment : the foot of the throne our 
continued dwelling-place ; for the Rock of Ages is our only safe 
Hiding-place. I rejoice in an assured knowledge by faith of my 
interest in Christ, and of the certainty of my eternal salvation. 
Yet what strivings, what conflicts, what dangers, what enemies 
stand in my way ! The foes in my heart are so strong, that they 
would have killed me and sent me to hell long ere this, had the Lord 
left me; but, blessed be his name! his electing, redeeming, and 
saving love has got fast hold of me ; and who is able to pluck me 
out of my Father's hand? On my bended knees I have often to 
cry for succor; and, bless his name! he has hitherto heard my 
cry. Oh, if I did not know that all the Lord's people had soul- 
contention, I should give up all for lost ! I rejoice that the prom- 
ises left on record are meant for me as well as for every saint of 
his, and as such I desire to grasp them. Let the whole earth, and 
even God's professing people, cast out my name as evil ; my Lord 
and' Master, he will not. I glory in the distinguishing grace of 
God, and will not, by the grace of God, step one inch from my 
principles, or think of adhering to the present fashionable sort 
of religion. 

Oh, could I become like holy men of past ages, — fearless of 
men, — holding sweet communion with God, — weaned more from 
the world, and enabled to fix my thoughts on spiritual things 
entirely ! But when I would serve God, I find my old deceitful 
heart, full of the very essence of hell, rising up into my mouth, 
polluting all I say and all I do. What should I do if, like you, I 



8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

were called to be engaged about things of time and sense? I 
fear I should be neither diligent in business nor fervent in spirit. 
"But" (say you) "he keeps talking all about himself." True, 
he does; he cannot help it. Self is too much his master. I am 
proud of my own ignorance: and, like a toad, bloated with my 
own venomous pride, — proud of what I have not got, and boast- 
ing when I should be bemoaning. I trust you have greater free- 
dom from your own corruptions than I have ; and in secret, social, 
and family prayer enjoy more blessed, sanctified liberty at the 
footstool of mercy. 

Rejoice ! for heaven awaits us, and all the Lord's family ! The 
mansion is ready ; the crown is made ; ' the harp is strung ; 
there are no willows there. May we be enabled to go on, like 
lions, valiant for the truth and cause of King Jesus, and, by the 
help of the Spirit, vow eternal warfare with every sin, and rest 
not until the sword of the Spirit has destroyed all the enemies 
in our hearts. 

May we be enabled to trust the Lord, for he will help us ; we 
must conquer ; we cannot be lost. Lost ! Impossible ! For who 
is able to snatch us out of our Father's hand ? 

May the Lord bless you exceedingly. 

Your affectionate nephew, 

C. H. Spurgeon. 

The remark of the poet, " The boy is father to the man," is 
strikingly illustrated in Mr. Spurgeon's case. 

In the opening of this year of grace, 1882, in his forty-eighth 
year, Mr. Spurgeon wrote a brief article for his magazine, in which 
we discover the same characteristics, the 'same dependence on 
God, the same distrust of self, the same doctrinal position and 
assured certainty through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
We subjoin an extract : — 

A great statesman, the other day, celebrated his seventieth 
birthday by a retrospect of his life : it is meet that old age should 
look back. To us, however, in the middle of the stream, it seems 
more natural to look around on present circumstances. Years 
ago, at a younger age, our tendency was to look ahead, and long 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

for a great future ; nor would we forego the habit, but still the 
pressure of long years, and growing burdens, and a sense of 
diminishing strength unite to keep the eyes occupied with the 
things of to-day, and the connection of the present Avith the infi- 
nite and eternal. It appeared to us when looking forward that 
the Christian life-work would require a power far beyond our own ; 
but now we more intensely feel-the certainty of that fact, and were 
it not for divine help we should give up in despair. If still sus- 
tained, after all these years of conflict, grace must indeed have the 
glory of it, and here upon the altar of the present we would offer 
the calves of our lips, giving glory to the Lord, the God of our 
salvation. Doubtless divine love will be glorified in the closing 
hours of the mature Christian, but it is emphatically magnified in 
the stern period when the burden and heat of the day are on the 
laborer, when the novelty and romance of youth are over, and the 
nearness of the reward is not yet vividly certified by old age. Of 
all parts of the stream, the hardest to ford is the middle : there 
the water is deepest, the current swiftest, and the footing least 
secure. Lord, hold thou me up, and L shall be safe. This is the 
prayer which oftenest leaps from our lips. 

'' Thus saith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity." We 
have lived long enough to experience the hollowness of earth, and 
the rottenness of all carnal promises. Our work, though it be holy, 
presses heavily upon the shoulder, and we see not all the fruit 
of it which we expected in earlier days. Many strong helpers 
have been taken away by death, and the enthusiasm which made 
our earlier friends leap forward with their aid is not repeated to 
the full at a second sound of the clarion. The decline is only 
apparent to fear ; but apprehension has the eyes of a hawk, and 
spies out the smallest discouragement. The world grows better 
very slowly: we sometimes fear that it grows worse. The church 
relapses to her former sloth ; the good are weary, and the wicked 
wax impudent; the times are out of joint, and evil days are 
threatening. What can happen better to a man than to go home? 
Happy is he who is taken from the evil to come, or hears the sound 
of his descending Master's coming ere yet the shadows of the day 
are lengthened to the utmost. 



lO LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Thus does middle age prose when it is under the influence of its 
most sombre hour. The ink grows thick, and the pen is clogged, 
and makes black strokes and heavy. The subject should be treated 
in a more believing manner, and written of not according to the 
flesh, but after the spirit. Doubtless length of days tries our 
graces, but what length of days have we to speak of, — ^we who 
are sighting fifty, or passing beyond it? Half a century is a trifle 
in the life of God. True, there is a flagging of human energ)^ and 
the warm blood of youth cools dow^n ; but our Christian life never 
stood in the strength of the creature, and hence it cannot flag, 
since the Creator grows not old, nor is his arm waxed short. The 
same power which begat will preserve. Omnipotence first made 
the believer rise into newness of life, and until it fails his life will 
continue ever fresh and young. Well said the Psalmist, " All 
my springs are in thee." What if others suffer shipwreck, yet 
none that sail with Jesus have ever been stranded yet. Purposes, 
plans, and achievements of men may all disappear like yon cloud 
upon the mountain's summit; but, like the mountain itself, the 
things which are of God shall stand fast for ever and ever. Now 
is the time, in the^ lull of natural energy, to prove the power of the 
Holy Ghost. The trees of earth as they pass their prime decrease 
the quantity and quality of their fruit : it is a mark of the trees of 
grace that they still bring forth fruit in old age to show that the 
Lord is upright The faithfulness of God may be relied upon to 
work a growing faithfulness in his people. Never so conscious 
of dependence as in this middle passage, never so certain of the 
all-sufficiency of God as in this noontide of the day, we joy in 
the Lord, and look for even richer mercies than ever. 

Young men, trust God, and make the future bright with blessing. 
Old men, trust God, and magnify him for all the mercies of the 
past. As for us, we mingle gratitude and expectation in equal 
portions, and pray to stand in this present hour faithful to the 
Master in whose grace we trust. 

Our valued friend, Pastor Tames H. Brookes, of St. Louis, 
author of '' Maranatha," ''Is the Bible True?" '' The Way made 
Plain," &c., and editor of *' The Truth," sent us the following com- 



INTRODUCTORY. - 1 1 

municatiort, which we deem of importance, coming, as it does, 
from the pen of an experienced minister of the gospel whose 
loyalty to Christ and the Scriptures cannot be questioned. Mr. 
Spurgeon was in his twenty-eighth year at the time of Dr. Brookes's 
visit to London, — the time of life when men usually manifest the 
vagaries and impetuosity of youth, and lack those marks of matu- 
rity which are seen in later life. But even in youth Mr. Spurgeon 
spoke with the experience of age, though with the fervor and 
strength of young manhood. 

One of my strongest desires upon arrival in London, some 
years ago, was to hear the man of whom I had read so much. 
This desire was speedily gratified, and under circumstances which 
I knew would show the weak points of his character if these were 
prominent. In looking over a morning newspaper, I noticed that 
he was advertised to preach on a week-day in some obscure 
chapel. No one of whom I inquired could tell me anything about 
the place ; but with the aid of a cabman it was found, and proved 
to be a small, dingy house, that would be crowded with an audi- 
ence of four hundred. It was not more than half filled, and the 
few who were present were evidently plain people. 

Mr. Spurgeon was fifteen minutes late, and I felt annoyed, Sup- 
posing that he took advantage of his, notoriety and popularity to 
consult his own convenience about his appointments. At length 
he appeared, walking briskly down the aisle, and ascended the 
pulpit. After spending a moment in prayer, he arose, and in a 
perfectly simple and natural manner, as if he were speaking to a 
friend by his fireside, apologized for his tardiness. He said that 
for the first time in his life he had failed to be prompt ; but it was 
not his fault, for he had preached the night before in some coun- 
try town, had taken the first train for the city, and had hurried 
from the station immediately to the meeting-house, without even 
going home to kiss his wife and little boys. Of course this put 
every one in good humor. 

He then began the services by singing *' Come, Holy Spirit, 
Heavenly Dove," and I am not sure that he did not start the tune. 
However this may have been, his prayer struck upon my ear and 



12 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

heart as wonderful for its humility, earnestness, directness, and 
confidence. His reading of the Scriptures, with his brief common- 
sense remarks and expositions, added greatly to the interest of the 
hearer in the chapter selected ; and the sermon that followed was 
certainly one of the best, in every respect, ever preached by unin- 
spired man. If he had been preaching before the Queen and the 
nobility of England, if he had been speaking to an audience of 
ten thousand, he could not have laid out greater strength, nor 
exhibited greater sincerity, greater intensity of interest in the 
delivery of his message, greater concern for the honor of his Lord 
and for the souls of his hearers. 

'' Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps," was 
his text, and the teachings and life of Jesus Christ our Saviour' 
were held up with singular clearness and fidelity to the truth. 
The first part of his discourse was doctrinal, and the second hor- 
tatory, or, as some call it, practical, — although it was all most 
thoroughly practical, because so thoroughly doctrinal. I remem- 
ber that one man arose, obviously in anger, and slowly left the 
house, but turned now and then to look at the preacher. As 
he withdrew, Mr. Spurgeon reminded him of the sovereignty of 
God, and the sacrificial death of our Divine Redeemer as the only 
hope of the lost sinner, and then went on to urge us to walk like 
Him, and to walk worthy of Him, as His friends and representa- 
tives on the earth. The sermon was very searching to my own 
soul, and I determined to hear no one else during my stay in 
London. 

Nor did I hear any one else, except one afternoon and one even- 
ing when Mr. Spurgeon was not preaching, or when he was preach- 
ing where I could not reach him. I heard him in Exeter Hall ; I 
heard him, on my return from the Continent, in his own meeting- 
house, then just completed; and T never heard him without a little 
thank-offering of my own. While he was leading the vast con- 
gregation in prayer, pouring out his gratitude to God for all his 
manifold mercies, spiritual and temporal, I invariably sent up the 
incense of praise from my own heart in the words, " Thank God 
for Spurgeon ! " Oh, how it comforted and strengthened me to see 
that brave witness standing there, often amid reproach and ridicule 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 3 

and slander, telling '* the old, old story," and bearing faithful 
witness to the truth, whether men would hear or forbear. 

It was a cause of regret to me, on leaving London after a few 
weeks' sojourn, that I could not, at least for some months, listen 
again to his courageous defence of God's Word, and to his stirring 
appeals. But an incident occurred during my absence on the 
Continent that illustrates the wide sweep of the man's influence 
for good. For some weeks I was detained by ill health in Clarens, 
at the upper end of Lake Geneva. One day I climbed the 
mountain, and came to a solitary cottage at a considerable dis- 
tance from the village, and also from any other visible habitation. 
Two poor women were sitting upon the grass before the door, one 
reading, while the other was sewing. My curiosity was excited to 
know what book had found its way to that lonely and desolate 
spot, and I asked the woman what she was reading. She at once 
held up the book, and I discovered it to be a volume of Spur- 
geon's sermons, translated into French. 

The last sermon I heard him preach was in London, on my 
return to my own country. The text was, *' At that time Jesus 
answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and pru- 
dent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matt. xi. 25). It was 
exceedingly faithful, as was all I heard fall from his lips ; and I 
recall a flash of genius, as the world terms it, which shows what 
he could do in the way of eloquence and oratory, if he cared for 
such things. Speaking of those who are so well satisfied with 
themselves and with their surroundings that they refuse to bow to 
the authority of God, he shouted, " You w411 not glorify him? You 
will not glorify him?" Then dropping his voice to a low and 
thrilling tone, he said, "Yes, you will, and you shall. I tell you 
the groans of the damned in hell are the deep bass of the univer- 
sal anthem of praise that shall ascend to the throne of my God 
for ever and ever." 

I doubt whether there is a minister of the gospel in Christen- 
dom, who tries to be true to the Lord and to his Word, that has 
not been helped by Mr. Spurgeon's example, faithfulness, and 
courage. In my judgment, he is the best preacher, in the best 



14 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON'. 

sense of the word, this century has produced ; and he is so far 
above the sensational preachers of our Own land, who have at- 
tained notoriety as much by their unfaithfulness to Christ as by 
their genius, that they are not worthy to untie his shoe-latchet. 
They have their reward now in the admiration of the crowd, pleased 
with that which exalts human nature and dishonors the Bible ; but 
at the coming of the Lord, which is fast hastening on, many of 
them at least will be wandering stars, to whom the mist of dark- 
ness is reserved, while Spurgeon will shine in the glory of the 
Master's approval and near his glorious Person for ever and ever. 

No apology is needed for bringing before our American public, 
in the present form, the hfe and labors of this well-known, beloved, 
and faithful minister of Jesus Christ. Mr. Spurgeon has universal 
fame without seeking it. Free from selfishness and ambition, and 
without aiming at popularity, he has enshrined himself in the 
hearts of thousands, and commanded the homage and respect of 
millions. Like the late honored and revered President of the United 
States, Mr. Spurgeon is a manly man ; childlike but not childish, 
great but not grand, he has taken rank as a prominent leader 
and teacher without officiousness or presumption on his part. 
His name and labors are closely interwoven with the religious 
history of England in the present century; and any who would 
acquaint themselves with the philanthropists of the age will seek 
acquaintance with this esteemed pastor. The man who has 
preached for twenty-eight years to a congregation of more than 
six thousand persons ; the man who is pastor of a church now ^ 
numbering over five thousand in its membership, having grown 
from comparatively few; the man who has given the right hand 
of fellowship during his pastorate, to nearly ten thousand persons 
in all; the man whose sermons have been published Aveekly for 
twenty-seven years, and besides their immense sale in England 
have been translated into many foreign languages ; the man who 
has founded and presides over a College which is unique in itself, 
preparing one hundred students for the ministry of the Word ; 
the man who is the originator and director of an Orphanage giving 
a home to five hundred needy children; the man who generously 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 5 

devoted the testimonial given to him on the twenty-fifth anniver- 
sary of his marriage, of over thirty thousand dollars, to provide 
an Asylum for a score of poor widows ; the man who is the author 
of over forty different volumes, including sermons, commentaries, 
lectures, and essays, the sale of one book alone, ** John Plou^^^h- 
man's Talk," having reached the number of three hundred thou- 
sand copies, besides being republished in America and translated 
into many European languages ; the man who for seventeen years 
has edited " The Sword and the Trowel," a monthly magazine, 
and who has started and still watches over various other works too 
numerous to mention, — is surely worthy of our study as well as 
of our veneration. Dr. Chalmers once wrote: "Everyman is a 
missionary, now and forever, for good or for evil, whether he 
intends or designs it or not. He may be a blot, radiating his dark 
influence outw^ard to the very circumference of society, or he may 
be a blessing, spreading bene^diction over the length and breadth 
of the world ; but a blank he cannot be. There are no moral 
blanks, there are no neutral characters. ' We are either the sower 
that sows and corrupts, or the light that splendidly illuminates, or 
the salt that silently operates ; but, being dead or alive, every man 
speaks." 

When reading the above, Mr. Spurgeon instantly came to mind 
as fulfilling Dr. Chalmers's ideal for good. He is a missionary in 
the truest and noblest sense ; a blessing spreading benediction 
through the length and breadth of the land ; a light that splendidly 
illuminates, warning against the rocks and reefs of heresy, and 
directing the tempest-tossed soul into the haven of rest; the salt 
which operates, preserving from decay the church under his special 
care, with the tens of thousands to whom he ministers through his 
printed sermons, whose faces he has never seen. He is indeed 
a living man, enabled through grace to reanimate everything he 
touches; and as a living man he speaks out his full mind on 
every subject dear to him. Jealous for the divine message, he 
cares only for the truth. Without plausibility, without pohcy, 
without compromise, he ever seeks to expound the truth, the 
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. From his office as am- 
bassador he has never been known to turn away, neither assuming 



l6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the role of ecclesiastic, nor degrading the ministry as a charlatan. 
Such a man, we repeat, is worthy of our study. The curious, the 
sedate, the inquirer, and the philosopher present their several 
queries. Whafis Mr. Spurgeon's history? what are his antece- 
dents ? what is the secret of his- unwaning popularity — what the 
source of his increasing powisr? These are questions which we 
trust the reader will find fully answered in these 'pages. That Mr. 
Spurgeon's ministry has been appreciated by leaders in every 
department of theology is well known, whilst ** babes and suck- 
lings " have grown to maturity under his fostering care. 

Our beloved friend and brother, Bishop Nicholson, of Philadel- 
phia, writing to us recently, remarked: "With regard .to Mr. 
Spurgeon as a minister of the gospel, I look upon him with the 
greatest admiration. The doctrines of Christ I think have never 
been more fully and faithfully taught. He is a bold utterer of 
God's Avill in the midst of abounding latitudinarianism, and yet 
he has seemed to me to be full of the sweetness and wisdom of 
Christ. His capacity for work is something marvellous. I look 
at what he has done, and I am simply amazed and confounded. 
He has been Christendom's foremost worker for Christ." 

Many ministers in our own and other lands have been refreshed 
and stimulated through Mr. Spurgeon's example and preaching. 
The following testimony from a well-known pastor is only one of 
many which have reached us from time to time : — 

" Though years have gone by since I listened to his graphic 
presentation of gospel truths, the whole scene, as well as the sub- 
jects discussed and much of the precise language used, is fresh 
and vivid in my memory at this very moment, and the influence of 
these services has remained with me like the perfume of precious 
ointment. His evident honesty, his robust Saxon speech, and his 
charming simplicity impressed me as the prime elements of his 
success as a winner of souls. I resolved w4iile listening to him 
that, God being my helper, I would make my preaching so plain 
that no man, possessing ordinary intelligence, could fail to appre- 
hend my meaning. I cannot claim to have followed the copy 
perfectly, for Mr. Spurgeon is unapproachable; but I have endeav- 
ored to follow after to the best of my ability." 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 7 

Mr. Spurgeon, being a many-sided man, does not impress all 
who hear him in the same way. Some are benefited in one direc- 
tion, some in another. His joyousness, as a ray of light, enters 
the gloomy hearts of not a few; his constant faith lifts up many 
discouraged ones ; his sincerity and honesty, his ingenuousness 
and piety, and the combination of all these qualities affect differ- 
ent persons in different ways. VVe have met with those who have 
been most benefited by Mr. Spurgeon's interpretation and exposi- 
tion of Scripture. Pastors who for years entertained their people 
with essays on moral themes, and sometimes on frivolous subjects, 
have come away from hearing Mr. Spurgeon with a profound 
determination that their preaching henceforth should be based on 
the opening and expounding of Scripture. An esteemed minister 
testified recently : — 

" I regard Mr. Spurgeon as a wonderful expositor of the Word, 
— sound, spiritual, inspiring. I am not a great reader of sermons, 
but I never read one of his discourses without a sense of solid 
satisfaction. It is a cause of devout thanksgiving that in these 
days, when the trumpet so often gives an uncertain sound, a false 
or quavering note has never been heard from Mr. Spurgeon's 
watch-tower." 

In presenting to the public Mr. Spurgeon's personal history and 
labors, we have undertaken a work which has been upon our heart 
for many years. We are well persuaded that numberless carica- 
tures and garbled histories have misled many persons, and preju- 
diced them against his teaching. We hope in some measure to 
correct this mischief, not for his sake, but theirs, who are the losers. 
Some American writers have done injustice to this noble man by 
representing him in a false light. Hobbyists on teetotalism and 
anti-tobacconists have made him the butt of their ridicule, and 
denounced him as an example of intemperance and fleshly indul- 
gence. But no right-minded man who has ever heard or read 
Mr. Spurgeon would for a moment believe these slanderous re- 
ports. Yet there are thousands of persons who have been antag- 
onized against this Defender of the Faith, having heard of him 
only through raving platform orators, flippant story-tellers, or 
vicious writers. 

2 



1.8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The motives which impel us in the prosecution of this work are 
various. 

The Editor is well persuaded that Mr. Spurgeon's example will 
be an incentive to Christian workers, quickening their faith, in- 
flaming their zeal, and encouraging their hearts in labor for the 
Lord. Many faint-hearted preachers have listened to his thrilling 
words with encouragement; despondency and unbelief have given 
place to hopefulness and faith. As we trace the history and 
development of Mr. Spurgeon from childhood, and observe 
how God makes choice of vessels sanctified and meet for His 
use, though we may not possess the rare talents of this min- 
ister of Christ, we may emulate his example in diligence, in 
faithfulness, and in loyalty to the gospel of our Lord. Many 
Christian workers would have given way to despair had not a 
timely word or a persevering example stimulated them to fresh 
hope. We trust, therefore, that in this direction our book will be 
eminently successful, and that weary toilers for God, missionaries, 
pastors, evangelists, students, and all who in the battle have had 
more than ordinary trials, will thank God for what He can do, and 
take courage. 

We have also strong assurance that the bold, clear, faithful 
teaching of the great preacher will in some measure counteract 
the ill-balanced, weakly, and sentimental theories afloat, as well as 
deliver from unscriptural, hurtful, and sceptical preaching, — now, 
alas ! so general, — many disciples of Jesus. When men depart 
from the simplicity that is in CHrist Jesus, and with carnal minds 
seek to analyze the Divine Word, compelling it to fit into the mould 
of their perverted thought, th-ey become impatient to regale their 
flocks with their negative knowledge. Such men, seeking fame, 
discover that fellow-fools are found who will applaud them for 
their folly. Some preachers have acquired notoriety in this direc- 
tion, whose scholarship and independent thinking is accepted as 
undisputed fact. But when their foolish philosophizing is blown 
aside, and their castles in the clouds melt away before the sunlight 
of God's Word, what about their bewildered hearers? And herein 
is one source of Mr. Spurgeon's strength: he never trifles with 
the *' book of books." He is a devout student and an humble 



INTRODUCTORY. 1 9 

reader of the Bible. He accepts its facts, its doctrines, its history, 
its revelation, without question. And with all the vigor of mind 
which he possesses and the eloquence which he commands, he 
declares his own deep conviction of its divine origin, and thereby,* 
through him, many have been delivered from the snare of scepti- 
cism into which they had fallen. Therefore we do believe that 
the extracts from his writings furnished in these pages will help 
thoughtful unbelievers out of the quagmires of every false philos- 
ophy, and lead them to the Rock of Truth, the Everlasting Word, 
God manifest in the flesh. 

In addition, we have in our mind the thousands of families 
throughout the country who are isolated from churches, or who 
may be surrounded by heretical teachers, and prefer to spend the 
Lord's day at home, than allow themselves or their children to 
receive spiritual damage through corrupt doctrine. To supply 
interesting, moral, and healthful reading to such persons is a work 
worthy of oiir best efforts. The story of Mr. Spurgeon's life, the 
peculiarities of his ministry, the history of his Orphanage and Col- 
lege, besides the reports given of the various features of his labors, 
cannot fail to command interest. We therefore believe that herein 
are furnished both pleasure and profit for our readers. In the rural 
districts, where books are few and libraries not easily obtained, to 
supply a book which would be a library in itself, is a hope which 
we trust will be fully realized. 

Besides, there are merchants and business men who need a book 
which will not fail to beguile the tedious hours of relaxation, — a 
book which must not be dull or mischievous in its tendencies. 
And who has found Mr. Spurgeon dull? There are chapters from 
his pen which out-rival for pure wit and homely wisdom any work 
extant. Never vulgar, sensational, or trifling, the humor of Mr. 
Spurgeon brings diversion and help and hope with it. The great 
object of his life is manifest in all his writings, — namely, the ele- 
vation and salvation of his race. His "John Ploughman's Talk" 
and "John Ploughman's Pictures" are full of sound advice, keen 
satire, kindly suggestion, and friendly warnings. No weary man 
can spend an hour reading these pithy sayings without feeling 
rested and benefited. But the mirthfulness within these pages is 



20 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

not the mental food provided, any more than the spices on our 
table constitute the edibles. There will be met pages of soHd 
reading, which the condiments will prepare the reader to enjoy and 
digest, the meal being a source of pleasure as well as a supply for 
present demand. 

The book is prepared as a ** labor of love," — love for the man 
who so nobly gives his life to the gospel ministry; love for the 
truth which he so unswervingly advocates ; love for the Master 
whose religion he preaches ; love for those who read these lines, 
which prompts the prayer that it may be sanctified to their 
highest good, and that Mr. Spurgeon's words through this me- 
dium may result in the conversion of many souls, leading them 
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. 



II. 

ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE. BIRTH. 



A LITTLE lone plant in the forest had prepared a tiny flower, which as yet 
was not opened ; yet the plant had no anxieties, but waited its time. Could it 
hope that the great sun would think of it, and send his genial rays to bring ils 
offspring to perfection ? Yes, among the thick boughs the sunhght found its 
way, and the little flower unfolded itself, and shone hke a monarch's crown. — 
C. H. Spurgeon. 



ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 



MR. STEVENSON, a worthy English minister of the VVes- 
leyan Church, has written an exceedingly interesting history 
of Mr. Spurgeon to his forty-third birthday. His description of 
the great- preacher and his collation of facts we copy almost 
entire. Others have written on the same theme, but we prefer to 
furnish our readers with Mr. Stevenson's condensed statements 
and concise narrative. We have supplied some missing links, and 
reduced the money accounts from pounds sterling to dollars. 
Those who have written adversely or spoken flippantly of Mr. 
Spurgeon, know not the man ; to us who have the pleasure of a 
personal acquaintance with him, it seems strange, that one who 
has given his life to benefit others, should be regarded otherwise 
than with feelings of gratitude and affection. But he has been 
graciously shielded, and for more than a quarter of a century the 
arrows of evil have fallen harmless at his feet. May the Lord 
of glory preserve to His Church for many years to come His 
honored servant ! 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon descends from the Essex branch 
of the same family. Early in his ministry in London, he was 
introduced, at a book-store in Paternoster Row, to Mr. John Spur- 
geon, a descendant of the Norwich branch of the family ; and on 
comparing notes of their respective ancestors, piety, uprightness, 
and loyalty were found alike in both. The same spirit of religious 
intolerance which sent the immortal Bunyan to Bedford Jail for 
preaching the gospel, also sent, in 1677, Job Spurgeon to Chelms- 



24 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

ford Jail, where, for conscience' sake, he lay on a pallet of straw 
for fifteen weeks, in extremely severe winter weather, without any 
fire. 

The great-grandfather of Pastor Spurgeon was contemporary 
with the opening period of the reign of King George III. The 
record preserved of his memory is, that he was a pious man, and 
ordered his household according to the will of God. From that 
day to this, the family has never wanted a man to stand before 
God in the service of the sanctuary. 

James, the grandfather of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon, was born at 
Halstead, in Essex, September 29, 1776. As a boy he was seri- 
ously inclined, and whilst yet a youth became a member of the 
Independent church at Halstead. Whilst an apprentice at'Cogge- 
shall, he was accepted as a member of the church there under the 
pastoral care of the Rev. S. Fielding. Following business pursuits 
till he was twenty-six years of age, his mind at that period was 
directed entirely to the work of the ministry, and in 1802 he 
entered Hoxton Academy. After two years' study, an application 
from Clare, in Suffolk, was made to him to try and raise a con- 
gregation which was very low; and in this he succeeded so far,, 
that In September, 1806, he was appointed pastor, and the church 
prospered under his pastorate. The protracted ministry of Mr. 
Beddow in the Independent church at Stambourne, in Essex (a 
church w^hlch had only four ministers during the course of two 
hundred years), having terminated in 18 10, Mr. Spurgeon received 
a unanimous call to the oversight of that church, which he ac- 
cepted, and in May, 181 1, he was recognized as their pastor. 
Himself the fourth of a succession of long-lived pastors In that 
village, he remained pastor over the church more than half a 
century, during which period he was peaceful, happy, and suc- 
cessful In his labors. He frequently remarked, when more than 
fourscore years old, " I have not had one hour's unhappiness with 
my church since I have been over it." Invitations from other 
churches were sent to him, but the love, harmony, and prosperity 
which prevailed between pastor and people Induced him to decline 
them all, and he remained true to the people of his choice. 

It is a recorded fact, worthy of perpetuation, that the venerable 



ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 25 

James Spurgeon never preached in any place away from his own 
church, but God fulfilled his promise, and gave him to hear of 
some good being done to persons in the congregation. He had a 
large head, and much that was good in it. He had a good voice, 
and was very earnest and practical in preaching the glorious truths 
of the gospel. The great usefulness of his life-long ministry will 
be known only in eternity. He was known widely in Essex as a 
man of the old school, — staid, quiet, and uniform in his dress 
and habits. He was the very picture of neatness, and in many 
particulars resembled John Wesley, especially in his manners and 
stature. He wore a dress cravat, a frilled shirt, and had a vest 
with deep pockets, as if provided for large collections. He was 
seldom without a packet of sweets, which he gave generously to 
the children wherever he went, so that they gathered round him 
and attached themselves to him with a firmness which riper years 
did not shake. He was always happy in the company of young 
people. He wore the breeches, buckled shoes, and silk stockings 
which marked the reign of George HI., and he really looked to 
be a venerable Nonconformist minister of a past age. For more 
than half a century his life corresponded with his labors. His 
gentle manners, his sincere piety, and his uniformity of conduct 
secured for him the goodwill of his neighbors, and he was as 
friendly with the parochial clergymen as with his attached Non- 
cqnformist friends. He often went to the parish church to hear 
the sermon when the prayers were over, especially when the cause 
of missions was to be advocated. He was blessed with a wife 
whose piety and useful labors made her a valuable helpmeet to 
her husband in every good word and work. In his last illness he 
was sustained by divine grace, and the desire he had so often 
expressed, that he might speak of Christ on his dying bed, was 
granted to him. He said the gospel was his only hope ; he was 
on the Eternal Rock, immutable as the throne of God. Those who 
were privileged to witness his departure from earth will never forget 
his joy and peace, and the glorious prospect he had of heaven. 

John Spurgeon, the father of Charles, was born at Stambourne 
in 181 1. He was the second of ten children, of whom four 
brothers and three sisters are still living. He is a portly looking 



26 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

man, a good specimen of a country gentleman, and is nearly six 
feet in height. For many years he was engaged in business at 
Colchester; but, with so excellent an example of a minister as 
was his father, it is not strange that his mind should have run in 
the same direction, though he did not fully enter on the ministry till 
he had reached the prime of life. For sixteen years he preached 
on Sundays to a small Independent church at Tollesbury, being 
occupied with business during the week. He next accepted a call 
to the pastorate of the Independent church at Cranbrook, Kent, a 
village of three thousand persons, where he remained five years. 

The popularity of his son Charles in London was not without 
its influence on the father, whose personak worth and whose minis- 
terial ability were not unknown in the metropolis, as he had 
spoken occasionally at meetings held by his son. The pastorate 
of the Independent church in Fetter Lane, Holborn, became 
vacant, and was offered to and accepted by Mr. Spurgeon; but 
his stay there was not long. A sphere more in accordance with 
his years and position was offered and accepted by him, and for 
some time he was pastor of the Independent church worshipping 
in the Upper- Street, Islington. That position he resigned at the 
end of the year 1876. He did good work in that locality, and was 
much beloved by the people. His preaching was plain, earnest, 
and pointed, and he manifested an affectionate solicitude for all 
under his pastoral care, especially the young people. There are 
many large places of worship in the locality, and preachers of 
distinction are numerous in that populous suburb ; but even there 
Mr. Spurgeon gathered a large and important congregation twice 
on the Sabbath, to whom his preaching was both acceptable and 
beneficial. The various branches of church work were earned on 
with energy and fidelity ; and those which required female agency 
were fostered and watched over with affectionate solicitude by 
Mrs. Spurgeon, whose motherly affection secured for her a wel- 
come in the families of the church. 

Mrs. John Spurgeon was the youngest sister of Charles Parker 
Jervis, Esq., of Colchester, in which town her husband carried on 
business for many years. Wherever she has resided she has been 
known and esteemed for her sincere piety, her great usefulness 



ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 2/ 

and humility. She is low in stature, a^nd in this respect her son 
Charles takes after her, but not in features, in which particular the 
other son, James Archer Spurgeon, assimilates more to his mother. 
'Even to a stranger visiting Mr. John Spurgeon's congregation, it 
would not be difficult to distinguish the pastor's wife. She has a 
kind word and a smile for all who come in contact with her, but is 
perhaps the least assuming lady in the whole assembly of worship- 
pers. The prayerful solicitude with which she trained her children 
has been rewarded by each one of them making a public profes- 
sion of their faith in Christ. Two of her sons occupy foremost 
places in the metropolis as preachers of the gospel; and one of 
her daughters, the wife of a minister, not only assists her husband 
in the preparation of his sermons, but occasionally delivers ad- 
dresses to small audiences. Speaking one day to her son Charles 
of her solicitude for the best interests of all her children, Mrs. 
Spurgeon said, " Ah, Charley, I have often prayed that you might 
be saved, but never that you should become a Baptist." To this 
Charles replied, " God has answered your prayer, mother, with His 
usual bounty, and given you more than you asked." Both Mr. 
and Mrs. Spurgeon made great sacrifices of personal comfort to 
give a good education to their children, and the children were 
taught habits of thrift and self-denial. The care thus bestowed 
on their training when young has been to the parents a source 
of much satisfaction ; the good results of that care are manifested 
in the happy home lives of their children. When, at some future 
period, the historian of the Metropolitan Tabernacle and of the 
Stockwell Orphanage is considering the primary causes of those 
great enterprises, the care which Mrs. Spurgeon bestowed on the 
early training of her family must be counted as a valuable aux- 
ihary in preparing the way for such exemplary conduct. 

The villages of England, more than the towns, have the honor 
of producing our great men. In the village the faculties develop 
themselves as nature forms them, while in the large towns a thou- 
sand delusive influences are continually diverting the minds of the 
young into channels of danger and error. The parents of Pastor 
Spurgeon were residing at the village of Kelvedon, in Essex, 
when, on June 19, 1834, their son Charles was born. The.popu- 



2S LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

lation of the place is only two thousand souls, and the resident 
clergyman, at the time just stated, the Rev. Charles Dalton, lived 
long enough to celebrate his jubilee as minister in that parish. 
The Spurgeon family belonged to the Nonconformists, under 
whose teaching they were all brought up. Charles and James 
Spurgeon were much separated during their early years. Charles 
was of a larger and broader build than James, and the boys in the 
village are said to have given them names designative of character, 
which also indicated friendship or attachment. Charles had as a 
boy a larger head than his brother, and he is represented as taking 
in learning more readily than James, whilst the latter excelled 
more in domestic duties. Besides the brothers, there ^are six 
sisters living, two of whom are said to resemble Charles in men- 
tal energy. 

As the children were growing up, the father, like many profes- 
sional and public men, feared his frequent absence from home 
would interfere with the religious education of the little ones. 
But happily for him he had a true helpmeet to co-operate with 
him in this important work, and happily for those children they 
had a noble mother who lived for them, and sought to build them 
up in true Christian character. Nor has she lived unrewarded for 
her pains. Oh, that all mothers learned the lesson well ! Hear 
the good man speak thus of his wife : — 

I had been from home a great deal, trying to build up weak 
congregations, and felt that I was neglecting the religious training 
of my own children while I was toiling for the good of others. 
I returned home with these feelings. ' I opened the door, and was 
surprised to find none of the children about the hall. Going 
quietly upstairs, I heard my wife's voice. She was engaged in 
prayer with the children ; I heard her pray for them one by one 
by name. She came to Charles, and specially prayed for him, for 
he was of high spirit and daring temper. I listened till she had 
ended her prayer, and I felt and said, '' Lord, I will go on with 
Thy work. The children will be cared for." 

When just old enough to leave home, Charles was removed to 
his grandfather's house at Stambourne, where, under the affection- 



ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 29 

ate care of a maiden aunt, and directed by the venerable pastor, 
he soon developed into the thoughtful boy, fonder of his book 
than of his play. He would sit for hours together gazing with 
childish horror at the grim figures of " Old Bonner" and " Giant 
Despair " ; or tracing the adventures of Christian in the '' Pil- 
grim's Progress," or of " Robinson Crusoe." The pious precocity 
of the child soon attracted the attention of all around. He would 
astonish the grave deacons and matrons who met at his grand- 
father's house on Sabbath evenings, by proposing subjects for 
conversation, and making pertinent remarks upon them. At that 
early period in life he gave indications of that decision of char- 
acter and boldness of address for which he has since become so 
remarkable. 

In the spring of 1840, and before he was six years old, seeing 
a person in the village who made a profession of religion stand- 
ing in the street with others known to be of doubtful character, 
he made up to the big man, and astonished him by asking, ''What 
doest thou here, Elijah? " 

In 1 841 he returned to his father's house, which was then at 
Colchester, that he might secure what improved advantages in 
education a town could supply. His mental development was 
even then considerably in advance of his years ; and his moral 
character, especially his love of truth, was very conspicuous. 

Spending the summer vacation at his grandfather's, in 1 844, 
when he was just ten years old, an incident occurred which had 
a material influence on the boy at the time, and even more so as 
Divine Providence opened his way. Mr. Spurgeon's grandfather 
first related the incident to the writer, but it has since been written 
by Mr. Spurgeon himself, with the title of " The Rev. Richard 
Knill's Prophecy." The account is as follows. 

" When I was a very small boy," wVites Charles H. Spurgeon, 
" I was staying at my grandfather's, where I had aforetime spent 
my earliest days ; and, as the manner was, I read the Scriptures 
at family prayer. Once upon a time, when reading the passage 
in the Book of Revelation which mentions the bottomless pit, I 
paused and said, 'Grandpa, what can this mean?' The answer 
was kind but unsatisfactory: 'Pooh, pooh, child, go on.' The 



30 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

child intended, however, to have an explanation, and therefore 
selected the same chapter morning after morning, Sunday in- 
cluded, and always halted at the same verse" to repeat the inquiry. 
At length the venerable patriarch capitulated at discretion, by 
saying, * Well, dear, w^iat is it that puzzles you ? ' Now, the child 
had often seen baskets with very frail bottoms, which in course of 
wear became bottomless, and allowed the fruit placed therein to 
fall upon the ground. Here, then, was the puzzle : If the pit 
aforesaid had no bottom, where would all the people fall w4io 
dropped out at its lower end? — a puzzle which rather startled the 
propriety of family worship, and had to be laid aside for expla- 
nation at a more convenient season. Questions of the like simple 
and natural character would frequently break up into paragraphs 
at the family Bible-reading, and had there not been a world, of 
love and license allowed to the inquisitive reader, he would soon 
have been deposed from his office. As it w^as, the Scriptures were 
not very badly rendered, and were probably quite as interesting 
as if they had not been interspersed with original and curious 
inquiries." 

On one of these occasions, Mr. Knill, whose name is a house- 
hold word, whose memory is precious to thousands at home and 
abroad, stayed at the minister's house on Friday, in readiness to 
preach at Stambourne for the London Missionary Society on the 
following Sunday. He never looked into a young face without 
yearning to impart some spiritual gift. He w^as all love, kindness, 
earnestness, and warmth, and coveted the souls of men as misers 
desire the gold their hearts pine for. He heard the boy read, and 
commended : a little judicious praise is the sure w^ay to a young 
heart. An agreement, was made with the lad that on the next 
morning, Saturday, he Avould show Mr. Knill over the garden', and 
take him for a walk before breakfast: a task so flattering to juve- 
nile self-importance was sure to be readily entered upon. There 
was a tap at the door, and the child was soon out of bed and in 
the garden with his new friend, who w^on his heart 'in no time by 
pleasing stories and kind words, and giving him a chance to com- 
municate in return. The talk was all about Jesus, and the pleas- 
antness of loving him. Nor was it mere talk ; there was pleading 



ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. . 3 1 

too. Into the great yew arbor, cut into the shape of a sugar-loaf, 
both went, and the soul-winner knelt down ; with his arms around 
the youthful neck, he poured out vehement intercession for the 
salvation of the lad. The next morning Avitnessed the same 
instruction and supplication, and the next also, while all day long 
the pair were never far apart, and never out of each other's 
thoughts. The mission sermons were preached in the old Puritan 
meeting-house, and the man of God was called to go to the next 
halting-place in his tour as deputation for the Society. But he did 
not leave till he had uttered a most remarkable prophecy. After 
even more earnest prayer with his little protege, he appeared to 
have a burden on his mind, and he could not go till he had eased 
himself of it. In after years he was heard to say he felt a 
singular interest in me, and an earnest expectation for which he 
could not account. Calling the family together, he took me on 
his knee, and I distinctly remember his saying, * I do not know 
how it is, but I feel a solemn presentiment that this child will 
preach the gospel to thousands, and God will bless him to many 
souls. So sure am I of this, that when my little man preaches in 
Rowland Hill's chapel, as he will do one day, I should like him 
to promise me that he will give out the hymn commencing, — 

" God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform." ' 

This promise was of course made, and was followed by another, 
— namely, that at his express desire I would learn the hymn in 
question, and think of what he had said. 

"The prophetic declaration was fulfilled. When I had the pleas- 
ure of preaching the Word of Life in Surrey Chapel, and also when 
I preached in Mr. Hill's first pulpit at Wootton-under-Edge, the 
hymn was sung in both places. Did the words of Mr. Knill help 
to bring about their own fulfilment? I think so. I believed them, 
and looked forward to the time when I should preach the Word. 
I felt very powerfully that no unconverted person might dare to 
enter the ministry. This made me the more intent on seeking 
salvation, and more hopeful of it ; and when by grace I was ena- 
bled to cast myself on the Saviour's love, it was not long before 



32 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

my mouth began to speak of his redemption. How came that 
sober-minded minister to speak thus to and of one into whose 
future God alone could see? How came it that he lived to re- 
joice with his younger brother in the truth of all that he had 
spoken? The answer is plain. But mark one particular lesson : 
would to God that we were all as wise as Richard Knill in habitu- 
ally sowing beside all waters. Mr. Knill might very naturally 
have left the minister's little grandson on the plea that he had 
other duties of more importance than praying with children ; and 
yet who shall say that he did not effect as much by that simple 
act of humble ministry as by dozens of sermons addressed to 
crowded audiences? To me his tenderness in considering the 
little one was fraught with everlasting consequences, and I must 
ever feel that his time was well laid out." 

During the fostering care of his aunt Ann, — his father's unmar- 
ried sister at Stambourne, — an attachment grew up which was as 
sincere in affectionate regard as that which usually exists between 
parent and child. This aunt had charge of the infant Spurgeon 
during most of the first six years of his life. He was the first 
grandchild in the family. Care was taken by his aunt to instruct 
him gradually as the mind was capable of receiving impressions ; 
but from his childhood his mind seems to have been framed after 
nature's model. The book he admired at his grandfather's, which 
had for one of its illustrations the portrait of Bonner, Bishop of 
London, was the cause of his mind receiving its first impressions 
against tyranny and persecution ; and being told of the perse- 
cuting character of Bonner, the child manifested a great dislike 
to the name, and called the picture which represented the bishop 
'^ Old Bonner." Even at that early period of life, before he was 
six years old, he exhibited a marked attachment to those who 
were known as the children of God. 

Four years of tjie boy's life were spent at a school at Colchester, 
where he studied Latin, Greek, and French. He was a diligent 
student, always carrying the first prize in all competitions. In 
1849 he was placed under the care of Mr. Swindell, at Newmarket. 
There he learned to practise much self-denial. The privations he 
voluntarily submitted to at that time showed how decided were 



ANCESTRY, PARENTAGE, BIRTH. 33 

his purposes to acquire knowledge, and as far as he knew to try 
and serve God. But the struggle which was going on in his mind, 
preparatory to his giving his heart fully to God, can only be 
described in his own touching words, as recorded in one of his 
sermons. Speaking of a free-thinker, he remarks : " I, too, have 
been like him. There was an evil hour in which I slipped the 
anchor of my faith: I cut the cable of my belief: I no longer 
moored myself hard by the coast of Revelation : I allowed my 
vessel to drift before the wind, and thus started on the voyage of 
infidelity. I said to Reason, Be thou my captain ; I said to my 
own brain. Be thou my rudder ; and I started on my mad voyage. 
Thank God, it is all over now ; but I will tell you its brief history : 
it was one hurried sailing over the tempestuous ocean of free 
thought." The result was, that from doubting some things, he 
came to question everything, even his own existence. 

But soon he conquered those extremes to which Satan often 
drives the sinner who is really repenting of his sins. The reader 
will be glad to hear Pastor Spurgeon's own account of his con- 
version. 



34 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM XV. 

Lord, I would dwell with Thee 

On Thy most holy hill. 
Oh, shed Thy grace abroad in me, 

To mould me to Thy will. 

Thy gate of pearl stands wide 
For those who walk upright ; 

But those who basely turn aside 
Thou chasest from T^y sight. 

Oh, tame my tongue to peace, 

And tune my heart to love ; 
From all reproaches may I cease, 

Made harmless as a dove. 

The vile, though proudly great, 

No flatterer find in me; 
I count Thy saints of poor estate 

Far nobler company. 

Faithful, but meekly kind, 

Gentle, yet boldl)' true, 
I would possess the perfect mind 

Which in my Lord I view. 

But, Lord, these graces all 

Thy Spirit's work must be ; 
To Thee, through Jesu's blood I call,— 

Create them all in me. 



C. H. Spurgeon. 



III. 

CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 



Conversion is a change of masters. Will we not do as mucli for our new 
master, the Lord Jesus, as we did once for our old*tyrant lusts ? We were very- 
ardent and obedient servants unto sin, yielding our members to iniquity unto 
iniquity; shall we not now be equally earnest servants of righteousness unto 
holiness ? Great Lord, be Thou our helper, that as we once served evil with our 
whole nature, we may so serve Thee, bowing our necks with delight to Thy 
easy yoke ! — C. H. Spurgeon. 



CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 



SOME persons suppose that deep conviction is the result of 
gross sin, but many sinners who had never walked with the 
ungodly have had such a view of the human heart in the sight of 
God as compelled them to cry out, " Unclean ! " Charles Spurgeon 
as a youth was chaste, moral, and guarded in his deportment. 
Yet in the narrative of his conversion we observe how he endured 
great bitterness of soul through conviction of sin. His heart hun- 
gered for the Lord, and was not satisfied till he found Him. Thus 
he narrates his conversion : — 

I will tell you how I myself was brought to the knowledge of 
this truth. It may happen the telling of that will bring some one 
else to Christ. It pleased God in my childhood to convince me 
of sin. I lived a miserable creature, finding no hope, no comfort, 
thinking that surely God would never save me. At last the worst 
came to the worst, — I was miserable ; I could do scarcely any- 
thing. My heart was broken in pieces. Six months did I pray, 
— prayed agonizingly with all my heart, and never had an answer. 
I resolved that, in the town where I lived, I would visit every place 
of worship in order to find out the way of salvation. I felt I was 
willing to do anything and be anything if God would only forgive 
me. I set off, determined to go round to all the chapels, and I 
went to all the places of worship ; and though I dearly venerate 
the men that occupy those pulpits now, and did so then, I am 
bound to say that I never heard them once fully preach the gos- 
pel. I mean by that, they preached truth, great truths, many 



38 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

good truths that were fitting to many of their congregation, — 
spiritually-minded people ; but what I wanted to know was, How 
can I get my sins forgiven? And they never once told me that. 
I wanted to hear how a poor sinner, under a sense of sin, might 
find peace with God ; and when I went I heard a sermon on " Be 
not deceived : God is not mocked," which cut me up worse, but 
did not say how I might escape. I went again another day, and 
the text was something about the glories of the righteous : noth- 
ing for poor me. I was something like a dog under the table, 
not allowed to eat of the children's food. I went time after time, 
and I can honestly say, I don't know that I ever went without 
prayer to God, and 'I am sure there was not a more attentive hearer 
in all the place than myself, for I panted and longed to understand 
how I might be saved. 

At last, one snowy day, — it snowed so much, I could not go to 
the place I had determined to go to, and I was obliged to stop on 
the road, and it was a blessed stop to me, — I found rather an 
obscure street, and turned down a court, and there was a little 
chapel. I wanted to go somewhere, but I did not know this place. 
It was the Primitive Methodists' chapel. I had heard of these 
people from many, and how they sang so loudly that they made 
people's heads ache ; but that did not matter. I wanted to know 
how I might be saved, and if they made my head ache ever so 
much I did not care. So, sitting down, the service went on, but 
no minister came. At last a very thin-looking man came into 
the pulpit and opened his Bible and read these words : '.' Look 
unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." Just setting 
his eyes upon me, as if he knew me all by heart, he said: "Young 
man, you are in trouble." Well, I was, sure enough. Says he, 
" You will never get out of it unless you look to Christ." And 
then, lifting up his hands, he cried out, as only, I think, a Primitive 
Methodist could do, " Look, look, look ! It is only look ! " said 
he. I saw at once the way of salvatidn. Oh, how I did leap for 
joy at that moment ! I know not what else he said : I did not 
take much notice of it, — I was so possessed with that one thought. 
Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, they only looked 
and were healed. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when 



CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 39 

I heard this word *' Look! " what a charming word it seemed to 
me. Oh, I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away ! 
and in heaven I will look on still in my joy unutterable. 

I now think I am bound never to preach a sermon without 
preaching to sinners. I do think that a minister who can preach 
a sermon without addressing sinners does not know how to 
preach. 

On Oct. II, 1864, the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle 
preached a sermon to five hundred hearers in the chapel at Col- 
chester (in which he was converted), on the occasion of the 
anniversary in that place of worship. He took for his text the 
memorable words, Isaiah xlv. 22, " Look unto Me, and be ye 
saved," &c., and, said the preacher, '' That I heard preached from 
in this chapel when the Lord converted me." And pointing to a 
seat on the left hand, under the gallery, he said : " I was sitting in 
that pew when I was converted^ This honest confession produced 
a thrilling effect upon the congregation, and very much endeared 
the successful pastor to many hearts. 

Of his conversion Mr. Spurgeon takes delight in speaking on 
every fitting opportunity, hoping thereby to benefit others. As 
an example of the advantage which he takes, under the title of 
" A Bit for Boys," he says, in "The Sword and the Trowel " : "When 
I was just fifteen, I believed in the Lord Jesus, was baptized, and 
joined the church of Christ. This is twenty-five years ago now, 
and I have never been sorry for what I then did ; no, not even 
once. I have had plenty of time to think it over, and many temp- 
tations to try some other course, and if I had found out that I had 
been deceived, or had made a gross blunder, I would have made a 
change before now, and would do my best to prevent others from 
falling into the same delusion. I tell you, boys, the day I gave 
myself up to the Lord Jesus, to be His servant, was the very best 
day of my life. Then I began to be safe and happy; then I found 
out the secret of living ; and had a worthy object for my life's 
exertions, and an unfailing comfort for life's troubles. Because 
I would wish every boy to have a bright eye, a light tread, a 
joyful heart, and overflowing spirits, I plead with him to con- 



40 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

sider whether he will not follow my example, for I speak from 
experience." 

Early in the month of January, 1856, Mr. Spurgeon preached a 
sermon to his own congregation' on Sunday morning, which is 
entitled '* Sovereignty and Salvation," and it forms No. 60 in the 
second volume of his published discourses. In that sermon he 
says : — 

*' Six years ago to-day, as near as possible at this very hour of 
the day, I was * in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of in- 
iquity,' but had yet, by divine grace, been led to feel the bitter- 
ness of that bondage, and to cry out by reason of the soreness of 
its slavery. Seeking rest and finding none, I stepped within the 
house of God, and sat there, afraid to look upward, lest I should 
be utterly cut off, and lest his fierce wrath should consume 
me. The minister rose in his pulpit, and, as I have done this 
morning, read this text : ' Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all 
the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else.' I 
looked that moment ; the grace of faith was vouchsafed to me in 
that instant; and 

* Ere since by faith I saw the stream 
His flowing wounds supply, 
Redeeming love has been my theme, 
And shall be till I die.' 

I shall never forget that day while memory holds its place ; nor can 
I help repeating this text whenever I remember that hour when 
first I knew the Lord. How strangely gracious ! How wonder- 
fully and marvellously kind, that he who heard these words so 
little time ago, for his own soul's profit, should now address you 
this morning as his hearers from the same text, in the full and 
confident hope that some poor sinner within these walls may hear 
the glad tidings of salvation for himself also, and may to-day be 
* turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
God ! ' " 

All the letters he sent home at that period were full of the over- 
flowings of a grateful heart; and, although so young in years, he 
describes the operations of divine grace on the heart and life, and 
the differences between the doctrines of the gospel and the forms 



CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 4I 

of the church, in terms so precise and clear, that no merely human 
teaching could have enabled him so to do. 

Brought up, as he had been, among the Independents, his own 
views on one point of church ordinances now assumed a form 
differing materially from what his parents had adopted. Having 
experienced a change of heart, he felt it to be laid upon him as an 
imperative duty to make a full and public confession of the change 
by public baptism. He had united himself formally with the Bap- 
tist people the year before ; now he felt constrained to fully cast in 
his lot and become one of them entirely. He wrote many letters 
home to his father, asking for advice and information, but striving 
to enforce his own conviction for making a public profession of 
his faith in Christ. At length the father was satisfied that his son 
had no faith in the dogma of baptismal regeneration ; that his 
motives for seeking to be publicly recognized as a follower of the 
Lord Jesus were higher than those he had feared ; therefore no 
further opposition was made, and the necessary steps were taken 
for his immersion. 

All the arrangements having been made, the young convert 
walked from Newmarket to Isleham, seven miles, on May 2d, and 
staying with the family of Mr. Cantlow, the Baptist minister there, 
he was by that gentleman publicly baptized in that village on Fri- 
day, May 3, 185 1, being in his sixteenth year. He thus proceeds 
in his letter to his father : '' It is very pleasing to me that the day 
on which I shall openly profess the name of Jesus is my mother's 
birthday. May It be to both of us a foretaste of many glorious 
and happy days yet to come." 

Having thus publicly devoted himself to the service of God, he 
was more earnest than ever in his efforts to do good. Besides 
having himself revived an old society for distributing tracts, he 
undertook to carry out this good work in Newmarket thoroughly. 
Whenever he walked out he carried these messengers of mercy 
with him; he was instant in season, and, indeed, was seldom 
out of season, in his efforts to do good. His duties in school 
occupied him three hours daily, the remainder of his time being 
spent in his closet or in some work of mercy. The Sunday-school 
very soon gained his attention, and his addresses to the children 



42 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

were so full of love and instruction that the children carried the 
good tidings home to their parents ; and soon they came to hear 
the addresses in the vestry of the Independent chapel in that town. 
The place was soon filled. 

At one of the examinations of the school he had consented to 
deliver an oration on missions. It was a public occasion, and in 
the company was a clergyman. During the examination the cler- 
gyman heard of the death of his gardener, and suddenly left for 
home. But on his way he thus reasoned with himself: The' gar- 
dener is dead ; I cannot restore his life ; I will return and hear 
what the young usher has to say on missions. He returned, heard 
the oration, and was pleased to show his approval by presenting 
Mr. Spurgeon with a sovereign. 

Having at once identified himself as a member of the Baptist 
church in Cambridge, he soon found occupation suitable to his 
mind. His addresses to children, and afterwards to parents and 
children, had produced a love of the work, and he soon was 
called to exhort a village congregation. He was then sixteen 
years old. Connected with the Baptist church meeting in St. 
Andrew's Street, Cambridge, formerly under the pastoral care of 
the late learned Robert Hall, there existed a society entitled " The 
Lay Preachers' Association." Although so young in years, Mr. 
Spurgeon was accepted as a member of this association. Here he 
at once found the occupation which his mind most desired ; and 
he was soon appointed to address a congregation. 

As this was one of the most important steps in Mr. Spurgeon's 
life, th6 reader will be glad to learn from his own pen the circum- 
stances which led to his first attempted sermon. In introducing 
the text, " Unto you therefore which believe. He is precious," 
I Peter ii. 7, Mr. Spurgeon remarks, in 1873: ''I remember well 
that, more than twenty-two years ago, the first attempted sermon 
that I ever made was from this text. I had been asked to walk 
out to the village of Taversham, about four miles from Cambridge, 
where I then lived, to accompany a young man whom I supposed 
to be the preacher for the evening, and on the way I said to him 
that I trusted God would bless him in his labors. * Oh, dear,' said 
he, ' I never preached in my life; I never thought of doing such 



CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 43 

a thing. I was asked to walk with you, and I sincerely hope God 
will bless YOU in YOUR preaching.' 'Nay,' said I, 'but I never 
preached, and I don't know that I could do anything of the sort' 
We walked together till we came to the place, my inmost soul 
being all in a trouble as to what would happen. When we found 
the congregation assembled, and no one else there to speak of 
Jesus, though I was only sixteen years of age, as I found that I 
was expected to preach, I did preach, and the text was that just 
given." 

Considering the results which have followed that sermon, and 
that the preacher is now the author of twenty-seven large volumes 
ofpubHshed sermons, and that nearly two thousand of his sermons 
have in various forms been printed since that day, it will be inter- 
esting to glance at some of the incidents belonging to that early 
period of his ministry. In the summer of 1875, from inquiries 
made in the locality, a correspondent of the '* Baptist " newspaper 
reports as follows : — 

** A gentleman informed me that he he.ard Mr. Spurgeon preach 
his first sermon when about sixteen years of age ; and he then 
read, prayed, and expounded the Word, being attired in a round 
jacket and broad turn-down collar, such as I remember to have 
been in fashion at that period. 

" Mr. Spurgeon was then living near Cambridge, and his mode 
of preaching afforded promise that he would become a powerful 
and popular preacher. 

" Mr. C, the schoolmaster of the village in 1850, was impressed 
with the precocious talent of the young preacher, and at his style 
of preaching." 

Having once entered on this most solemn duty, and finding 
acceptance with the people, he laid himself out for one service 
every evening, after attending to his duties in school during the 
day. 

From an aged and experienced Christian, who heard Mr. Spur- 
geon preach before his call to London, we learn that his addresses 
were very instructive, and often included illustrations derived from 
history, geography, astronomy, and from other branches of school 
occupation, evidently adapted from his daily duties, and thus 



44 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

made to serve as instruments in religion, as well as in training and 
informing the mind. 

His early ministry was not only gratuitous, but often attended 
with demands on his small salary, which he willingly gave to God, 
— not to be seen of men, did he help the needy. 

In some of the thirteen village stations around Cambridge and 
Waterbeach, to which Mr. Spurgeon devoted all his evenings, the 
preaching was held in a cottage, in others a chapel, and occasion- 
ally the open Common could furnish the accommodation required. 
At the village of Waterbeach, Mr. Spurgeon was received in a 
marked manner of approval. In most of the places in which he 
had preached the effect was very much alike, in the large numbers 
attracted to hear the Word of God, and in the success which God 
was pleased to bestow on his labors. Even at that early period 
of his ministerial career, invitations to preach special sermons in 
towns and villages at a distance soon rapidly increased. At 
Waterbeach, however, the little church saw in the young man a 
suitability to their wants, and they gave him an invitation to 
become their pastor. He was well received by the people, and 
soon became quite popular. During the few months of his pas- 
torate there, the church members were increased from forty to 
nearly one hundred. 

Mr. Spurgeon has himself supplied an interesting reminiscence 
of his ministry at that village, which is worth preserving: — 

" When we had just commenced our youthful pastorate at 
Waterbeach, in 1852, Cornelius Elven, as a man of mark in that 
region, was requested to preach the anniversary sermons in our 
little thatched meeting-house, and right well we remember his 
hearty compliance with our desire. We met at the station as he 
alighted from a third-class carriage which he had chosen in order 
to put the friends to the least possible expense for his travelling. 
His bulk was stupendous, and one soon saw that his heart was as 
large in proportion as his body. He gave us much sage and holy 
advice during the visit, which came to us with much the same 
weight as Paul's words came to Timothy. He bade us study hard, 
and keep abreast of the foremost Christians in our little church, 
adding as a reason, that if these men, either in their knowledge 



CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 45 

of Scripture or their power to edify the people, once outstrip you, 
the temptation will arise among them to be dissatisfied with your 
ministry ; and, however good they are, they will feel their superi- 
ority, and others will perceive it too, and then your place in the 
church will become very difficult to hold. His sermons were very 
homely, and pre-eminently practical. He told anecdotes of the use- 
fulness of addressing individuals one by one about their souls." 

It has been remarked a hundred times, by those not well in- 
formed on the matter, that Mr. Spurgeon was an uneducated man, 
and had no college instruction. The experience of a quarter of 
a century has demonstrated how erroneous were these remarks. 
Is there in England a man of education who has done more for 
the extension of the kingdom of Christ by the publication of 
numerous valuable theological and instructive books than Mr. 
Spurgeon? Let the Hst of his works determine. 

On the question of not going to college there is also some mis- 
conception. The exact facts are worthy of being placed on record. 
Mr. Spurgeon has himself so clearly stated the case in an article 
he wrote some time ago in his own magazine, that the reader will 
be glad to see it here ; it is curious and interesting : — 

" Soon after I had begun, in 1852, to preach the Word in Water- 
beach, I was strongly advised by my father and others to enter 
Stepney, now Regent's Park College, to prepare more fully for 
the ministry. Knowing that learning is never an incumbrance 
and is often a great means of usefulness, I felt inclined to avail 
myself of the opportunity of attaining it, although I believed I 
might be useful without a college training, I consented to the 
opinion of friends, that I should be more useful with it. Dr. 
Angus, the tutor of the college, visited Cambridge, where I then 
resided, and it was arranged that we should meet at the house of 
Mr. Macmillan, the publisher. Thinking and praying over the 
matter, I entered the house at exactly the time appointed, and 
was shown into a room, where I waited patiently for a couple of 
hours, feeling too much impressed with my own insignificance and 
the greatness of the tutor from London to venture to ring the 
bell and inquire the cause of the unreasonably long delay. 

"At last, patience having had her perfect work, the bell was 



46 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

set in motion, and on the arrival of the servant, the waiting young 
man of eighteen was informed that the doctor had tarried in 
another room, and could stay no longer, so had gone off by train 
to London. The stupid girl had given no information to the 
family that any one called and had been shown into the drawing- 
room, consequently the meeting never came about, although 
designed by both parties. I was not a little disappointed at the 
moment ; but have a thousand times since then thanked the Lord 
very heartily for the strange providence which forced my steps 
into another and far better path. 

" Still holding to the idea of entering the Collegiate Institution, 
I thought of writing and making an immediate application ; but 
this was not to be. That afternoon, having to preach at a village 
station, I walked slowly in a meditating frame of mind over Mid- 
summer Common to the little wooden bridge Avhich leads to 
Chesterton, and in the midst of the common I was startled by what 
seemed to me to be a loud voice, but which may have been a 
singular illusion : whichever it was, the impression it made on my 
mind was most vivid ; I seemed very distinctly to hear the words, 
' Seekest thou great things for thyself, seek them not ! ' This led 
me to look at my position from a different point of view, and to 
challenge my motives and intentions. I remembered my poor 
but loving people to whom I ministered, and the souls which had 
been given me in my humble charge ; and although at that time 
I anticipated obscurity and poverty as the result of the resolve, 
yet I did there and then renounce the offer of collegiate instruc- 
tion, determining to abide for a season, at least, with my people, 
and to remain preaching the Word so long as I had strength to 
do it. Had it not been for those words, I had not been where I 
am now. Although the ephod is no longer worn by a ministering 
priest, the Lord guides His people by His .wisdom, and orders all 
their paths in love ; and in times of perplexity, by ways myste- 
rious and remarkable. He says to them : ' This is the way ; walk 
ye in it.' " 

One or two extracts from his letters, written at the same time, 
it is desirable to give to show how anxiously the matter was con- 
sidered. In his reply to his father, dated March 9, 1852, Mr. 



CONVERSION AND PREACHING. 4/ 

Spurgeon writes: "I have all along had an aversion to college, 
and nothing but a feeling that I must not consult myself, but Jesus, 
could have made me think of it. It appears to my friends at 
Cambridge, that it is my duty to remain with my dear people at 
Waterbeach ; so say the church there unanimously, and so say 
three of our deacons at Cambridge." 

During the summer his decision was taken, in the, way previ- 
ously related ; and in a letter he sent to his mother in November 
following, he says : " I am more and more glad that I never went 
to college. God sends such sunshine on my path, such smiles of 
grace, that I cannot regret if I have forfeited all my prospects for 
it. I am conscious I held back from love to God and His cause ; 
and I had rather be poor in His service than rich in my own. I 
have all that heart can wish for ; yea, God giveth more than my 
desire. My congregation is as great and loving as ever. During 
all the time I have been at Waterbeach, I have had a different 
house for my home every day. Fifty-two families have thus taken 
me in; and I have still six other invitations not yet accepted. 
Talk about the people not caring for me because they give me so 
little ! I dare tell anybody under heaven 't is false ! They do all 
they can. Our anniversary passed off grandly ; six were baptized ; 
crowds on crowds stood by the river ; the chapel afterwards was 
crammed both to the tea and the sermon." 

By these and other exercises of mind, God was preparing his 
young servant for greater plans of usefulness and a wider sphere 
of action. 

The following verses were written by Mr. Spurgeon, at the age 
of eighteen : — 

IMMANUEL. 

When once I mourned a load of sin ; 
When conscience felt a wound within ; 
When all my works were thrown away ; 
When on my knees I knelt to pray, 

Then, blissful hour, remembered well, 

I learned Thy love, Immanuel. 

When storms of sorrow toss my soul ; 
When waves of care around me roll ; 



48 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

When comforts sink, when joys shall flee ; 

When hopeless griefs shall gape for me, 

One word the tempest's rage shall quell — 
That word, Thy name, Immanuel. 

When for the truth I suffer shame ; 

When foes pour scandal on my name ; 

When cruel taunts and jeers abound ; 

When '* Bulls of Bashan" gird me round, 
Secure within Thy tower I '11 dwell — 
That tower, Thy grace, Immanuel. 

When hell enraged lifts up her roar ; 

When Satan stops my path before ; 

When fiends rejoice and wait my end ; 

When legioned hosts their arrows send. 
Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell, 
Thy battle-cry, Immanuel. 

When down the hill of life I go ; 

When o'er my feet death's waters flow ; 

When in the deep'ning flood I sink; 

When friends stand weeping on the brink, 
I '11 mingle with my last farewell 
Thy lovely name, Immanuel. 

When tears are banished from mine eye ; 

When fairer worlds than these are nigh ; 

When heaven shall fill my ravished sight ; 

When I shall bathe in sweet delight, 
One joy all joys shall far excel, 
To see Thy face, Immanuel. 



IV. 
CALL TO LONDON. 



James I. once said of armor, that "it was an excellent invention; for it not 
only saved the life of the wearer, but it hindered him from doing harm to any- 
body else." Equally destructive to all usefulness is that excessive prudence 
upon which some professors pride themselves; not only do they escape all 
persecution, but they are never able to strike a blow, much less to fight a battle 
for the Lord Jesus. — C. H. Spurgeon, 



CALL TO LONDON. 



THE anniversary meeting of the Cambridge Union of Sunday- 
schools in 1853 Avas held at Cambridge, on which occasion 
Mr. Spurgeon was called upon to speak. The part he took was 
of remarkable significance. There was nothing in his manner or 
his remarks which was specially attractive to his audience; but 
there was an unseen agency at work with the speaker as well as 
in the audience. There was present at that meeting a gentleman 
from Essex, on whose mind the acldress .delivered by Mr. Spur- 
geon made a lasting impression. Shortly afterwards he met in 
London with one of the deacons of the Baptist church of New 
Park Street, Southwark, a church which had once flourished like 
the ancient cedars of Lebanon, but which was then so far shorn 
of its former glory as to give cause of serious consideration. 
Anxiously did the thoughtful deacon tell his tale of a scattered 
church and a diminished congregation. Fresh upon the mind of 
his hearer was the effect of the speech of the young minister at 
Cambridge, and he ventured to speak of the youthful evangelist 
of Waterbeach as a minister likely to be the means of reviving 
interest in the declining church at New Park Street. The two 
friends separated, the deacon not much impressed with what he 
had heard ; and things grew worse. 

But finally a correspondence was commenced between Deacon 
James Low and Mr. Spurgeon, which soon resulted in the latter 
receiving an invitation to come to London and preach before them 
in their large chapel. The work was altogether of God, man only 



52 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

made the arrangements. The motto of Juhus Caesar may be 
modified to express the results of the visit: Mr. Spurgeon came; 
he preached ; he conquered. 

For some months the pulpit had been vacant, the pews forsaken, 
the aisles desolate, and the exchequer empty. Decay had set in 
so seriously that the deacons lost heart, and, until Mr. Spurgeon 
arrived, the cause seemed hopeless. In the autumn of 1853 he 
first occupied New Park-street pulpit. The chapel, capable of 
holding twelve hundred people, had about two hundred occupants 
at the first service. The preacher was a young man who had just 
passed his nineteenth year. In his sermon he spoke with the 
freedom and boldness which evinced that he believed what he 
preached, and believed that his message was from God. Some 
were disappointed ; others resolved to oppose, and did oppose ; 
but by far the greater proportion were disposed to hear him again. 
The result of the first sermon was proved, in a few hours, to have 
been a success. The evening congregation was greatly increased, 
partly from curiosity, partly from the youth of the preacher and his 
unusual style of address. Mr. Spurgeon was again invited to take 
the pulpit on another Sunday as early as possible, for a feeling of 
excitement was created, and it required to be satisfied. After 
•consulting with his church at Waterbeach, he arranged to supply 
the New Park-street pulpit during three alternate Lord's days. 
The desire to hear the young preacher having greatly extended, 
it was determined to invite Mr. Spurgeon from his rustic retreat 
to undertake the heavy responsibility of pastor of one of the 
most ancient Baptist churches in London, and formerly the most 
influential; and he entered on that duty in the month of April, 

1854. 

We are permitted to give two of Mr. Spurgeon's letters to the 
church at the time of his appointment, which will most clearly 
state the facts relating to his coming to London. The first of the 
following letters was written to Deacon Low shortly before Mr, 
Spurgeon left Cambridge, and the second is dated from his first 
lodgings immediately after his permanent arrival in London. 



CALL TO LONDON. 53 

No. 60 Park Street, Cambridge, Jan. 27, 1854. 

To James Low, Esq. 

My dear Sir, — I cannot help feeling intense gratification at 
the unanimity of the church at New Park Street in relation to 
their invitation to me. Had I been uncomfortable in my present 
situation, I should have felt unmixed pleasure at the prospect 
Providence seems to open up before me ; but having a devoted and 
loving people, I feel I know not how. 

One thing I know, namely, that I must soon be severed from 
them by necessity, for they do not raise sufficient to maintain me 
in comfort. Had they done so I should have turned a deaf ear to 
any request to leave them, at least for the present. But now my 
Heavenly Father drives me forth from this little Garden of Eden, 
and while I see that I must go out, I leave it with reluctance, and 
tremble to tread the unknown land before me. 

When I first ventured to preach at Waterbeach, I only accepted 
an invitation for three months, on the condition that if in that time 
I should see good reason for leaving, or they on their part should 
wish for it, I should be at liberty to cease supplying, or they should 
have the same power to request me to do so before the expiration 
of the time. 

With regard to a six months' invitation from you, I have no 
objection to the length of time, but rather approve of the prudence 
of the church in wishing to have one so young as myself on an 
extended period of approbation. But I write after well weighing 
the matter, when I say positively that I cannot — I dm^e not — accept 
an unqualified invitation for so long a time. My objection is not 
to the length of time of probation, but it ill becomes a youth to 
promise to preach to a London congregation so long, until he 
knows them and they know him. I would engage to supply for 
three months of that time, and then, should the congregation fail, 
or the church disagree, I would reserve to myself liberty, without 
breach of engagement, to retire; and you would on your part 
have the right to dismiss me without seeming to treat me ill. 
Should I see no reason for so doing, and the church still retain 
their wish for me, I can remain the other three months, either with 



54 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. 11. SPURGEON. 

or without the formahty of a further invitation ; but even during 
the second three months I should not hke to regard myself as a 
fixture, in case of ill success, but would only bp a supply, liable to 
a fortnight's dismissal or resignation. 

Perhaps this is not business-like, — I do not know; but this is 
the course I should prefer, if it would be agreeable to the church. 
Enthusiasm and popularity are often the crackling of thorns, and 
soon expire. I do not wish to be a hindrance if I cannot be a 
help. 

With regard to coming at once, I think I must not. My own 
deacons just hint that I ought to finish the quarter here : though, 
by ought, they mean simply, — pray do so if you can. This 
would be too long a delay. I wish to help them untif they can 
get suppHes, which is only to be done with great difficulty ; and, 
as I have given you four Sabbaths, I hope you will allow me to 
give them four in return. I would give them the first and second 
Sabbaths in February, and two more in a month or six weeks' 
time. I owe them much for their kindness, although they insist 
that the debt lies on their side. Some of them hope, and almost 
pray, that you may be tired in three months, so that I may be 
again sent back to them. 

Thus, my dear sir, I have honestly poured out my heart to you. 
You are too kind. You will excuse me if I err, for I wish to do 
right to you, to my people, and to all, as being not mine own, but 
bought with a price. 

I respect the honesty and boldness of the small minority, and 
only wonder that the number was not greater. I pray God that 
if He does not see fit that I should remain with you, the majority 
may be quite as much the other way at the end of six months, so 
that I may never divide you into parties. 

Pecuniary matters I am well satisfied with. And now one thing 
is due to every minister, and I pray you to remind the church of 
it, namely, that in private, as well as public, they must all wrestle 
in prayer to God that I may be sustained in the great work. 

I am, with the best wishes for your health, and the greatest 
respect, Yours truly, 

C. H. Spurgeon. 



CALL TO LONDON. 55 

Viewed in the light of subsequent results, it will not surprise 
the reader to learn that it did not take the church six months to 
determine their part of the contract. Before three months had 
passed away, ''the small minority" had been absorbed into the 
majority, and the entire church united in giving their young min- 
ister, not yet twenty years old, an invitation to accept the pas- 
torate, both cordial and unanimous. Mr. Spurgeon's second letter 
at this period will best explain the real facts : — 

7S Dover Road, Borough, April 28, 1854. 

To the Baptist Church of Christ worshipping in New Park-street 
' Chapel, Southwark. 

Dearly Beloved in Christ Jesus, — I have received your 
unanimous invitation, as contained in a resolution passed by you 
on the 19th instant, desiring me to accept the pastorate among you. 
No lengthened reply is required ; there is but one answer to so 
loving and cordial an invitation. I ACCEPT IT. I have not been 
perplexed as to what my reply shall be, for many things constrain 
me thus to answer. 

I sought not to come to you, for I was the minister of an 
obscure but affectionate people; I never soHcited advancement. 
The first note of invitation from your deacons came to me quite 
unlooked for, and I trembled at the idea of preaching in London. 
I could not understand how it came about, and even now I am 
filled with astonishment at the wondrous Providence. I would 
wish to give myself into the hands of our covenant God, whose 
wisdom directs all things. He shall choose for me ; and so far as 
I can judge this is His choice. 

I feel it to be a high honor to be the pastor of a people who 
can mention glorious names as my predecessors ; and I entreat 
of you to remember me. in prayer, that I may realize the solemn 
responsibility of my trust. Remember my youth and inexperi- 
ence; pray that these may not hinder my usefulness. I trust, 
also, that the remembrance of these may lead you to forgive the 
mistakes I may make, or unguarded words I may utter. 

Blessed be the name of the Most High ! if He has called me to 



56 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

this office He will support me in it ; otherwise, how should a child, 
a youth, have the presumption thus to attempt a work which 
filled the heart and hands of Jesus? Your kindness to me has 
been very great, and my heart is knit unto you. I fear not your 
steadfastness ; I fear my own. The gospel, I believe, enables me 
to venture great things, and by faith I venture this. I ask your 
co-operation in every good work, — in visiting the sick, in bring- 
ing in inquirers, and in mutual edification. 

Oh, that I may be no injury to you, but a lasting benefit ! I have 
no more to say, only this : that if I have expressed myself in these 
few words in a manner unbecoming my youth and inexperience, 
you will not impute it to arrogance, but forgive my mistake. 

And now, commending you to our covenant-keeping' God, the 
triune Jehovah, I am yours to serve in the gospel, 

C. H. Spurgeon. 

Before three months of the new pastorate had expired the fame 
of the young minister had spread over the metropolis, crowds of 
people flocked to his chapel at every service, and the newspapers, 
week by week for some time, were asking: Who is this Spurgeon? 
For a long time that question was a puzzle to many minds; but 
one thing was certain, he had secured the ear and the attention of 
the public, who waited upon his ministry by thousands. 

The summer of 1854 will long be remembered for the frightful, 
scourge of Asiatic cholera with which the great city was visited. 
The black flag could be seen stretched across streets to warn 
strangers of the close proximity of plague-stricken dwellings. On 
all sides there was anxious foreboding, sorrow, or bereavement. 
The young pastor's services were eagerly sought for, his time 
and strength taxed to their utmost; but he discharged the duties 
of the emergency with a true and manly courage. A paragraph 
from his "Treasury of David," on Psalm xci., most graphically 
describes this trying period : — 

'' In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve 
months, the neighborhood in which I labored was visited by 
Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. 
Family after family summoned me to the bedsides of the smitten, 




Mr. Spurgeon at the Age of Twenty-one. 



CALL TO LONDON. 57 

and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave 
myself up with youthful ardor to the visitation of the sick, and 
was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks 
and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart. My 
friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was 
sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping 
would have laid me low among the rest. I felt that my burden 
was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. 
As God would have it, I was returning mournfully home from a 
funeral, when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was 
wafered up in a shoemaker's window in the Dover Road. It did 
not look like a trade announcement, nor was it; for it bore in a 
good bold handwriting these words : ' Because thou hast made the 
Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitati'on ; 
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
thy dwelling.' The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith 
appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt 
with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying in 
a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered 
no harm. The Providence which moved the tradesman to place 
those verses in his window I gratefully acknowledge, and in the re- 
membrance of its marvellous power I adore the Lord my God." 

In the autumn of his first year's pastorate he preached a ser- 
mon from the words, *' Is it not wheat harvest to-day?" The 
sermon attracted attention, was much talked about by his hearers, 
and during the following week it appeared under the title of 
" Harvest Time," and had a large sale. This led the publisher 
shortly afterwards to print another of his sermons, under the title 
of "God's Providence." The public at once took to these sermons, 
and by the end of the year about a dozen had thus been issued. 
This greatly increased his popularity; for many who had not 
heard him, read those sermons, were interested in them, and soon 
found opportunity to go and hear him. The domand for his 
sermons being considerably greater than for the sermons of other 
ministers then being published, Mr. Spurgeon made arrangements 
with the first friend he met in London, who was a printer, and a 
member of his church, to commence the pubhcation of one sermon 



58 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

of his every week, beginning with the new year, 1855. Through 
the good providence of God the sermons have appeared continu- 
ously, week by week, without interruption, for more than twenty- 
seven years, with a steady, improving, and large circulation, which 
is in itself a marked indication of divine favor. No other minister 
the world has ever known has been able to produce one printed 
sermon weekly for so many years. The work still goes on with 
unabated favor and unceasing interest. 

The following description of the preacher's style at this period 
is one of the earliest we have met with : " His voice is clear and 
musical ; his language plain ; his style flowing, but terse ; his 
method lucid and orderly ; his matter sound and suitable ; his 
tone and spirit cordial ; his remarks always pithy and pungent, 
sometimes familiar and colloquial, yet never light or coarse, much 
less profane. Judging from a single sermon, we supposed that he 
would become a plain, faithful, forcible, and affectionate preacher 
of the gospel in the form called Calvinistic; and our judgment 
was the more favorable because, while there was a solidity beyond 
his years, we detected little of the wild luxuriance naturally char- 
acteristic of very young preachers." Want of order and arrange- 
ment was a fault the preacher soon found out himself, and he 
refers to it when he says : " Once I put all my knowledge together 
in glorious confusion; but now I have a shelf in my head for 
everything; and whatever I read or hear I know where to stow 
it away for use at the proper time." 

Amongst the multitudes who assembled to hear the popular 
preacher was a member of the Society of Friends, who, .being 
deeply impressed by what he saw and heard, wrote a lengthened 
article on the subject. The writer observes : " The crowds which 
have been drawn to hear him, the interest excited by his ministry, 
and the conflicting opinions expressed in reference to his qualifi- 
cations and usefulness, have been altogether without parallel in 
modern times. It was a remarkable sight to see this round-faced 
country youth thus placed in a position of such solemn and ardu- 
ous responsibility, yet addressing himself to the fulfilment of its 
onerous duties with a gravity, self-possession, and vigor that 
proved him well fitted for the task he had assumed. 



CALL TO LONDON. 59 

Within one year, New Park-street Chapel had to be enlarged. 
During the enlargement, Exeter Hall was taken, and it was filled 
to overflowing every Sabbath morning to hear the young preacher. 
The chapel, which had been enlarged to the fullest extent of the 
ground, was soon found to be far too circumscribed for the thou- 
sands who flocked to hear him ; and by the end of the summer 
it became necessary to seek for a much larger place to satisfy 
the demand of the public. 

On the 19th of June, 1855, Mr. Spurgeon came of age, and he 
improved the occasion by preaching a sermon relating thereto. 
A large congregation heard it, and it was printed, with an excel- 
lent likeness of the young preacher, pale and thin as he then was. 
The sermon was published with the title, " Pictures of Life, and 
Birthday Reflections." It had a large sale. That was the first 
portrait of him which had been issued. 

At that period the first attempt to issue a penny weekly news- 
paper was made by Mr. C. W. Banks, and the ''Christian Cabinet" 
was a very spirited publication. The value of a pure and cheap 
press was fully appreciated by Mr. Spurgeon, who generously 
furnished articles for the columns of that serial during nearly 
the whole of its first year's existence. They show a clear and 
sound judgment on many public events passing more than twenty 
years ago, and they are the first buddings of that genius which 
has since ripened so fully, and yielded such an abundant harvest 
of rich mental food. The books which have since come from 
Mr. Spurgeon's pen are equally marvellous for their number, 
variety, and usefulness, and some of them have had most unpre- 
cedentedly large sales. 

In July of this year, 1855, he paid his first visit to Scotland, 
and a lively description of his congregation and preaching was 
printed in the " Cabinet." 

On the bright evening of the 4th of September, Mr. Spurgeon 
preached to about twelve thousand people in a field in King 
Edward's Road, Hackney. The sermon was printed under the 
title of " Heaven and Hell," and had a very large sale, doing at 
the same time a large amount of good. The sermon v/as closed 
by the preacher giving the following account of his own conver- 



60 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

sion, which had a good effect on his audience, proving that expe- 
rience is the best teacher. There were thousands of young people 
present who were astonished at what they heard, and many turned 
that night from their sins. The preacher said : — 

'' I can remember the time when my sins first stared me in the 
face. I thought myself the most accursed of all men. I had not 
committed any very great open transgressions against God; but 
I recollected that I had been well trained and tutored, and I 
thought my sins were thus greater than other people's. I cried 
to God to have mercy, but I feared that He would not pardon me. 
Month after month I cried to God, but He did not hear me, and 
I knew not what it was to be saved. Sometimes I was so weary 
of the world that I desired to die; but I then recollected that 
there was a worse world after this, and that it would be an ill 
matter to rush before my Maker unprepared. At times I wickedly 
thought God a most heartless tyrant, because He did not answer 
my prayer ; and then at others I thought, ' I deserve His displeas- 
ure; if He sends me to hell, He will be just.' But I remember 
the hour when I stepped into a place of worship, and saw a tall, 
thin man step into the pulpit: I have never seen him from that 
day, and probably never shall till we meet in heaven. He opened 
the Bible, and read with a feeble voice : ' Look unto Me and be ye 
saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and beside Me 
there is none else.' Ah ! thought I, I am one of the ends of the 
earth; and then, turning round, and fixing his gaze on m.e, as 
if he knew me, the minister said : ' Look, look, look ! ' Why, I 
thought I had a great deal to do, but I found it was only to look. 
I thought I had a garment to spin out for myself; but I found 
that if I looked, Christ could give me a garment. Look, sinner, 
that is the way to be saved. Look unto Him, all ye ends of the 
earth, and be saved." 

Preaching is the ordained means for the salvation of sinners: 
the power of appeal by the human voice is greater than any 
other; but there is another influence which is potent. Before 
Mr. Spurgeon had issued more than half a year's sermons from 
the press, letters reached him from far-off places recording the 
good which had been effected by reading them. On one of Mr. 



CALL TO LONDON. 6 1 

Spurgeon's visits to Scotland he was taken to visit Anne Sims, 
an aged saint living at the Brae of Killiecrankie, far away up the 
mountains, who had expressed intense delight in reading his ser- 
mons, and prayed for his success in the work, little thinking that 
in her mountain solitude, and in her ninetieth year, she should 
ever see the preacher himself, whose visit was to her like that of 
an angel. It would be difficult to chronicle the results which have 
followed the reading of the sermons. In the first article in " The 
Sword and the Trowel" for 1872, the editor himself says, ''Our 
ministry has never been without large results in conversion." 
Twenty conversions have been reported to him by letter in one 
week.- The last Sunday sermon he preached in 1855, with which 
the first volume of his printed discourses is closed, had special 
reference to the war in the Crimea, and it commanded a large 
sale; its title was, " Heahng for the Wounded." It contributed 
materially to" allay public anxiety about the war. Mr. Spurgeon 
closed the year by holding a Watchnight Service in his chapel. 
It was a happy and memorable service, and it has been repeated 
at the close of every year since ; the last hours of the closing 
year and the first moments of the opening new year being devoted 
to the worship of God, in acts of personal consecration. 

It is a gratifying fact, not generally known, that from the first 
year of Mr. Spurgeon's ministry in London several clergymen 
have used his sermons weekly, with a little adaptation, in their 
own churches. This testimony has been given by the clergy- 
men themselves, in person and by letter, to the writer. Some are 
using the sermons in that w^ay at the present time, and though 
delivered second-hand in this manner, yet they are not without 
fruit. 



62 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM XXL 



Thy strength, O Lord, makes glad our King, 
Who once in weakness bowed the head; 

Salvation makes His heart to sing, 
For Thou hast raised Him from the dead. 

Thou hast bestowed His heart's desires, 
Showered on His path Thy blessings down; 

His royal pomp all Heaven admires ; 
Thou on His head hast set the crown. 

A life eternal as Thy years, 

A glory infinite Hke Thine, 
Repays Him for His groans and teirs, 

And fills His soul with joy divine. 

O King, beloved of our souls. 

Thine own right. hand shall find Thy foes ! 
Swift o'er their necks Thy chariot rolls, 

And Earth Thy dreadful vengeance knows. 

As glowing oven is Thy wrath, 

As flame by furious blast upblown ; 
With equal heat Thy love breaks forth, 

Like wall of fire around Thine own. 

Be Thou exalted, King of kings! 

In Thine own strength sit Thou on high ! 
Thy Church Thy triumph loudly sings, 

And lauds Thy glorious Majesty. 

C. H. Spurgeon. 



V. 

ABUNDANT IN LABORS, 



Life is so brief that no man can afford to lose an hour of it. It has been 
well said, that if a king should bring us a great heap of gold, and bid us take 
as much as we could count in a day, we should make a long day of it ; we 
should begin early in the morning, and in the evening we should not with- 
hold our hand. Now, to win souls, or to grow in grace, or to commune with 
God, is far nobler work ; how is it that we so soon withdraw from it .-^ — C. H. 
Spurgeon. 



ABUNDANT IN LABORS.' 



THE year 1856 was a remarkable one in the life of Mr. Spur- 
geon. It was the year of his marriage ; the year in which 
he preached his grandfather's jubilee sermon, and one of the 
centenary sermons in Whitfield's Tabernacle in Tottenham Court 
Road. 

During the first week of the year Mr. Spurgeon was delighting 
larcre audiences at Bath. The second week was made memorable 
by a service held in his own chapel, in which the young people, 
more particularly, took a very lively interest. Early in the fore- 
noon of January 8th Mr. Spurgeon was married to Miss Susanna 
Thompson, daughter of Mr. Robert Thompson, of Falcon Square, 
London. Twin boys, Charles and Thomas Spurgeon, are the only 
additions to their family. Both are now settled pastors. 

At this period Mr. Spurgeon was daily in the pulpit, often 
travelling maay miles between the services held; and for months 
together he preached twelve sermons weekly, with undiminished 
force and unflagging zeal. In the achievement of such herculean 
tasks he has doubtless been indebted to an excellent constitution 
and to his simple habits of living. He is the very embodiment of 
nature, without the usual make-up of art. He throws himself on 
the tide of social intercourse with the freedom of one who has no 
tricks to exhibit and no failings to conceal. He is one of the most 
pleasant of companions : pious without any of the shams of piety; 
temperate without a touch of asceticism ; and devout without the 
solemnity of the devotee. Preaching for his poorer brethren in 

5 



66 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the country, he decHned to receive any contribution towards his 
personal outlay, excepting only in cases where the church could 
well afford to pay his travelling expenses. 

New Park-street Chapel when enlarged soon became utterly 
inadequate to receive the crowds which flocked to hear Mr. Spur- 
geon, and the deacons found it necessary to take the largest 
available building in London, — the Royal Surrey Gardens Music 
Hall, — and in October, 1856, Mr. Spurgeon commenced to 
preach every Sabbath in that vast audience-room, continuing the 
m^orning service there till the great Metropolitan Tabernacle was 
opened. 

What is known as the Surrey Gardens catastrophe we need not 
do more than allude to. On October 19th a sad and fatal acci- 
dent had wellnigh put an end to the large Sabbath gatherings 
drawn to hear Mr. Spurgeon ; but that fatality was overruled for 
good. Previous to this Mr. Spurgeon knew not what illness was; 
but this calamity, joined with the wicked calumnies of a portion of 
the press, laid prostrate even the strong man. 

In October, 1856, the first meeting was held for considering the 
steps necessary to be taken for erecting a great Tabernacle. The 
proposal was very heartily taken up by Mr. Spurgeon's friends, 
and in every part of the country sympathy was largely shown 
with the movement. There were many who laughed at the idea 
of erecting as a place of worship an edifice to hold five thousand 
persons. Regardless of these objections the work went on, Mr. 
Spurgeon travelling all over the land, preaching daily, with the 
promise of half the proceeds of the collection being devoted to 
the new Tabernacle. The foundation-stone of the great building 
was laid by Sir Samuel Morton Peto, Aug. 16, 1859. 

During the progress of the work Mr. Spurgeon met on the 
ground, one evening after the workmen had left, one of his dea- 
cons. After some consultation and meditation, surrounded by 
planks, piles of timber and bricks, in the dim twilight, they both 
knelt down where no eye could see them but that of God ; and 
with only the canopy of heaven for their covering, the pastor and 
his friend each poured out most earnest supplications for the pros- 
perity of the work, the safety of the men engaged on the building, 




Surrey Music Hall. 



ABUNDANT IN LABORS. 6/ 

and a blessing on the church. Their prayers were not offered 
in vain, but were abundantly answered. Out of so large a 
number of men engaged on the work, not one of them suffered 
harm. 

In i860 a large and enthusiastic meeting was held in the build- 
ing before it was finished, at which much money was given and 
more promised. Great preparations were made during the winter 
for the holding of a large bazaar in the spring, which was proba- 
bly one of the largest and most productive of the kind ever held 
in London. The opening services were commenced on March 25, 
1 86 1, and were continued without interruption for five weeks. As 
the result of all these efforts, the great Tabernacle, to hold five 
thousand people, was free from debt at the end of the special ser- 
vices, and $155,000 of free-will offerings had been poured into the 
hands of the treasurer. Since then various improvements have 
been made in the audience-room, and, using every facility modern 
invention could suggest, seats have been provided for 5,500 per- 
sons, and standing room for 1,000 more, -:- total, 6,500. 

Large as is the accommodation provided, the Tabernacle has 
always been filled. All the prophets of evil have been found false 
prophets, and the spirit of faith with which the work was begun 
has had its full reward in results even greater than ever had been 
anticipated. 

When the church removed from ^^ew Park Street, in 1861, it 
numbered 1,178 members. In ten years from the commence- 
ment of his ministry Mr. Spurgeon had received into fellowship 
by baptism 3,569 persons. 

During the period in which Mr. Spurgeon was preaching in the 
Surrey Music Hall large numbers of the aristocracy attended his 
ministry; amongst whom were Lord Chief Justice Campbell, the 
Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London, Earl Russell, Lord Alfred 
Paget, Lord Panmure, Earl Grey, Earl Shaftesbury, the Marquis 
of Westminster, the Duchess of Sutherland, Lord Carlisle, Earl of 
Elgin, Baron Bramwell, Miss Florence Nightingale, Lady Roth- 
schild, Dr. Livingstone, and many other persons of learning and 
distinction, some of whom sought and obtained interviews with the 
preacher. It was during that interim that Mr. Spurgeon paid 



68 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

one of his visits to Holland, was privileged to. preach before the 
Dutch Court, and had a lengthened interview with the queen of 
that country. It was reported that some members of the English 
Royal Family also occasionally attended on his preaching, and 
not a few distinguished clergymen and professors. 

During the present year Mr. Gladstone and his son have formed 
part of the congregation, and a mutual interview was held at the 
close of the service between the great premier and the humble 
pastor. Mr. Gladstone has often spoken very highly of Mr. Spur- 
geon, calling him " the last of the Puritans." 

Dr. Livingstone, the great African explorer, said, on one occa- 
sion after hearing Mr. Spurgeon, that no religious servic.e he ever 
remembered had so deeply impressed his own mind as that he had 
witnessed and participated in that morning; adding, that when 
he had retired again into the solitudes of Africa, no scene he had 
ever witnessed would afford him more consolation than to recall 
the recollection that there was one man God had raised up who 
could so effectively and impressively preach to congregated thou- 
sands, whilst he should have to content himself by preaching to 
units, or at most tens, under a tropical sky in Africa; implying, 
at the same time, that Mr. Spurgeon's sphere of religious influ- 
ence was a hundred times greater than that of the great and good 
traveller. 

Mr. Spurgeon has often been invited to lecture in this country, 
but has always declined. The managers of the Redpath Lyceum 
Bureau having noticed a paragraph in the Boston papers stating 
that Mr, Spurgeon was about to visit the United States, enclosed 
it to him, and wrote as follows : — 

Boston, Mass., June 22, 1876. 

Dear Sir, — Is the, above paragraph true? We have tried so 
long and so hard for many years to secure you that we thought it 
impossible, and long since gave up all hope. We are the exclu- 
sive agents of all the leading lecturers In America. We will give 
you a thousand dollars in gold for every lecture you deliver in 
America, and pay all your expenses to and from your home, and 
place you under the most popular auspices in the country. Will 
you come? 



ABUNDANT IN LABORS. 69 

■ To this invitation Mr. Spurgeon returned the following reply: — 

Clapham, London, Eng., July 6. 
Gentlemen, — I cannot imagine how such a paragraph should 
appear in your papers, except by deliberate invention of a hard-up 
editor, for I never had any idea of leaving home for America for 
some time to come. As I said to you before, if I could come, I 
am not a lecturer, nor would I receive money for preaching. 

In the year 1857 Mr. Spurgeon preached two sermons, — one 
in the ordinary course of his ministrations, the other on a special 
occasion, — both of which commanded a sale of more than a hun- 
dred thousand copies. The first, preached in the autumn, was 
entitled " India's Ills and England's Sorrows," and had reference 
to the mutiny in India. The second was preached in the Crys- 
tal Palace at Sydenham on the fast day relating to the war in 
India, when probably not less than twenty thousand formed the 
preacher's audience. 

It will doubtless interest many to learn something of the per- 
sonal appearance of the preacher as he stood before that vast 
audience. One who had some skill in depicting natural hfe wrote 
of him as follows : — 

" He is of medium height, at present quite stout, has a round 
and beardless face, not a high forehead, dark hair, parted in the 
centre of the head. His appearance in the pulpit may be said to 
be interesting rather than commanding. He betrays his youth, 
and still wears a boyish countenance. His figure is awkward, — 
his manners are plain, — his face (except when illumined by a 
smile) is admxitted to be heavy. His voice seems to be the only 
personal instrument he possesses, by which he is enabled to ac- 
quire such a marvellous power over the minds and hearts of his 
hearers. His voice is powerful, rich, melodious, and under perfect f 
control. Twelve thousand have distinctly heard every sentence 
he uttered in the open air, and this powerful instrument carried 
his burning words to an audience of twenty thousand gathered in 
the Crystal Palace. * Soon as he commences to speak,' says an 
English critic, * tones of richest melody are heard. A voice, full, 
sweet, and musical, falls on every ear, and awakens agreeable 



JO LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

emotions in every soul in which there is a sympathy for sounds. 
That most excehent of voices is under perfect control, and can 
whisper or thunder at the wish of its possessor. Then there is 
poetry in every feature and every movement, as well as music in 
the voice. The countenance speaks, the entire form sympathizes. 
The action is in complete unison with the sentiments, and the eye 
listens scarcely less than the ear to the sweetly flowing oratory.' 
To the influence of this powerful voice, he adds that of a manner 
characterized by great freedom and fearlessness, intensely earnest, 
and strikingly natural. When to these we add the influence of 
thrilling description, touching anecdote, sparkling wit, startling 
episodes, striking similes, all used to illustrate and enforce the 
deep, earnest home-truths of the Bible, we surely have a combi- 
nation of elements which must make up a preacher of wonderful 
attraction and of marvellous power." 

Amidst his incessant duties and almost daily journeys and ser- 
mons, the devoted pastor still found time to give instruction to the 
young men he kept under his careful ministry. With Mr. Spur- 
geon it was work almost night and day, and all day long, with but 
little intermission, for several years in succession. The germs of 
what is now known as the Pastors' College were never absent from 
his mind, and frequently occupied his attention when in London. 
In 1857 the first student was sent out in charge of a church; in 
1858 Mr. Silverton went forth; in 1859 Mr. Davies and Mr. Gen- 
ders followed, both of whom have left their mark on society. 

On Jan. i, 1865, appeared the first number of " The Sword and 
the Trowel ; " a record of combat with sin, and labor for the Lord. 
It had an ornamental cover representing a Jewish doorway of 
stone, and beyond and within were seen the zealous Jews at work 
rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, the sword in one hand, the 
^ trowel in the other. The work was so wisely planned, and it has 
been so ably conducted, that it now occupies a prominent, if not 
a foremost place amongst the periodical literature of the land, 
and has a circulation of several thousand copies monthly, with a 
steady advancement. 

Besides the other works daily undertaken by Mr. Spurgeon 
himself, and all his journeys in the country to preach special ser- 



ABUNDANT IN LABORS. ' 7 1 

mons, he found time to write no less than nineteen articles for the 
first year's volume of his magazine. At the end of the year the 
Editor was ill at home, but he informed his friends, through the 
magazine, that he had finished writing his new book, " Morning 
by Morning," by which means he hoped to hold hallowed com- 
munion with thousands of families all over the world, every morn- 
ing, at the family altar. He has since added to it a companion 
volume, " Evening by Evening," both of which works have had a 
large sale, which is steadily on the increase. Amongst his articles 
in 1865 were two poems, one entitled "The Fall of Jericho;" the 
other will find a fitting place in these pages. It was written while 
on a visit to Hull, in Yorkshire, during the summer : — 

MARRIED LOVE — TO MY WIFE. 

Over the space that parts us, my wife, 

I '11 cast me a bridge of song, 
Our hearts shall meet, O joy of my life, 

On its arch unseen, but strong. 

The wooer his new love's name may wear 

Engraved on a precious stone ; 
But in my heart thine image I wear, 

That heart has long been thine own. 

The glowing colors on surface laid. 

Wash out in a shower of rain ; 
Thou need'st not be of rivers afraid, 

For my love is dyed ingrain. 

And as every drop of Garda's lake 

Is tinged with sapphire's blue, 
^So all the powers of my mind partake 
Of joy at the thought of you. 

The glittering dewdrops of dawning love 

Exhale as the day grows old. 
And fondness, taking the wings of a dove, 

Is gone like a tale of old. 

But mine for thee, from the chambers of joy, 

With strength came forth as the sun, 
Nor life nor death shall its force destroy, 

Forever its course shall run. 



72 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

All earth-born love must sleep in the grave, 

To its native dust return ; 
What God hath kindled shall death out-brave, 

And in heaven itself shall burn. 

Beyond and above the wedlock tie 

Our union to Christ we feel ; 
Uniting bonds which were made on high, 

Shall hold us when earth shall reel. 

Though He who chose us all worlds before, 
Must reign in our hearts alone, 

We fondly believe that we shall adore 
Toi^ether before His throne. 



VI. 
REVIVALS. 



Just as the birds, when the eggs are in the nest, have upon them a natural 
feehng that they must sit on those eggs, and that they must feed those little 
fledglings which will come from them ; so if God calls you to win souls, you 
will have a natural love for them, a longing wrought in you by the Holy Spirit, 
so that the whole force of your being will run out in that direction, seeking the 
salvation of men. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



REVIVALS. 



DURING the year 1865 Mr. Spurgeon held in the Tabernacle 
united meetings for prayer through one entire week, attended 
by over six thousand persons, which were a source of so much 
blessing to those attending them, that a second series followed a 
month later. 

Conscious of the power of prayer, the pastor commenced the 
year 1866 with a month's continuous revival services, at which 
one hundred and twenty ministers and students were present. 
Knowing that he should have the sympathy and co-operation of 
his church in conducting them, in September the whole church 
had a day of fasting and prayer. 

An important work, which had for a long time occupied Mr. 
Spurgeon's attention, was brought out this year, under the title 
of " Our Own Hymn Book." The preparation of a new collec- 
tion of psalms and hymns for congregational use was felt to be 
an urgent necessity, but there was a nervous fear about the suc- 
cess of such a work. It was prepared with great care, and no 
pains were spared to make it complete in every respect, giving 
correct text, author's name to each hymn, with date of first pub- 
lication, and other interesting particulars in the large edition of 
the book. The public at once saw the value of the collection, 
and since that time it has had a very large sale, having been 
adopted by and is now in use in scores if not hundreds of con- 
gregations. 

As a student of the times in which Puritanism began to take 
hold of the mind of the English people, Mr. Spurgeon knew how 



^6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURQEON. 

great a work was accomplished by the Nonconformists by book- 
hawking. He had learned by several visits to Scotland how useful 
and valuable that agency was in the north of England. He there- 
fore, in January, 1866, issued a circular stating his intention to 
establish a system of colportage, by which his sermons and other 
works of a moral and religious character might be more widely 
distributed. At first it was intended to be confined to London 
and the neglected villages and small country towns around, where 
access to religious literature was difficult. The result of the 
appeal made in January led to the formation of The Colportage 
ASS0CLA.TI0N in October, which has ever since been one of the 
important agencies of the Tabernacle, and which is every year 
increasing its operations and usefulness. It employs colporteurs, 
whose whole time is directed to the work, and who are paid a 
moderate salary ; also book agents, who are constantly delivering 
books to purchasers, for which service they receive a liberal dis- 
count on sales, and by which they are enabled to make a satis- 
factory living. The wisdom of the course taken by Mr. Spurgeon 
in this matter has since been abundantly demonstrated. That 
association has been a blessing to thousands. 

At this time there was a feeling abroad which manifested itself 
in several articles in public papers, and notably in a New York 
religious weekly, that Mr. Spurgeon, by means of his College 
and the large number of new chapels being erected all over the 
land for his students, was aiming at founding a sect, after the 
example of Wesley. So soon as this notion reached Mr. Spur- 
geon, he took the earliest opportunity of repudiating the idea. 
In a short article entitled " Spurgeonism," he thus records his 
views : — 

" There is no word in the world so hateful to our heart as that 
word Spurgeonism, and no thought further from our soul than 
that of forming a new sect. Our course has been, and we hope 
ever will be, an independent one ; but to charge us with separat- 
ing from the general organization of the religious world, and even 
of the Baptist denomination, is to perpetrate an unfounded libel. 
We preach no new gospel, we desire no new objects, and follow 
them in no novel spirit. . We love Christ better than a sect, and 



REVIVALS. "JJ 

truth better than a party, and so far are not denominational; but 
we are in open union with the Baptists for the very reason that 
we cannot endure isolation. Pie who searches all hearts knows 
that our aim and object is not to gather a band around self, but to 
unite a company around the Saviour. ' Let my name perish, but 
let Christ's name last for ever,' said George Whitfield ; and so has 
Charles Spurgeon said a hundred times. We aid and assist the 
Baptist churches to the full extent of our power, although we do 
not restrict our energies to them alone, and in this those churches 
are far enough from blaming us. Our joy and rejoicing is great 
in the fellowship of all believers, and the forming of a fresh sect 
is work which we leave to the devil, whom it befits far more than 
ourselves. It is true that it has long been in our power to com- 
mence a new denomination, but it is not true that it has ever been 
contemplated by us or our friends. We desire as much as possible 
to work with the existing agencies, and when we commence new 
ones our friends must believe that it is with no idea of organizing 
a fresh community." 

The closing days of the year 1866 Mr, Spurgeon spent in 
Paris, in a successful eft"ort to get the Baptist church in that city 
brought out of an obscure corner, in which property could not be 
respected, into a place of prominence, where there was hope of its 
becoming known and being useful. This effort had long exercised 
the mind of Pastor Spurgeon, and he had the joy of seeing the 
work he aimed at fully accomplished. He spent his Christmas 
in Paris, getting rest for himself and doing a good work for the 
Parisians. 

Reinvigorated by his short trip to the Continent, he returned to 
his duties at the Tabernacle with renewed energy and a stronger 
faith, having gained fresh courage from his success in France. 

The month of February, 1867, witnessed the usual week of 
prayer, which that year was marked, on the i8th, by a whole day 
of fasting and prayer, commencing at seven in the morning and 
continuing, without a pause or breaking up for meals, until nine at 
night — a day of prayer in which the Holy Spirit was manifestly 
present all day. The account of the services held during that 
week reads like a new chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. 



78 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The readiness with which Mr. Spurgeon can adapt himself to 
his audience, whether that audience consists of the educated or 
affluent, the poor or the ignorant, was nev^er more distinctly 
seen than, when, in the EvangeHsts' Tabernacle, Golden Lane, 
City, he preached to a congregation of costermongers. Mr. Ors- 
man, the missionary there, had distributed tickets among the 
street dealers in Whitecross Street, so as to secure the class for 
whom the service was intended. An amusing article might be 
written to describe the singular variety of countenances and call- 
ings of those present. The hymns were heartily sung; the prayer 
won the hearts of the audience when Mr. Spurgeon offered sup- 
plication for those who had bodily aches and pains, ,and whose 
poverty deprived them of many desired comforts; many deep 
sighs followed those prayers. The sermon was preached from St. 
John iv. 15, and it was illustrated by allusions to the habits and 
manner of life of his congregation, whose acuteness relished the 
anecdotes and homely hits which the preacher so freely used. A 
costermonger's living depends much upon his voice. After the 
service the costers were free in their comments on the preacher's 
voice, which was described as *' Wot a woice ! " *' Wonderful ! " 
'* Stunnin' !" "I never!" "Would make a fine coster!" &c. 
After the sermon about two hundred remained to be prayed with, 
and much spiritual good was done that night. 

Six years having elapsed since the Tabernacle was opened, the 
building had suffered much from the massive congregations which 
had assembled there, and it became necessary to close it for several 
weeks for repairs. During that period Mr. Spurgeon preached 
to immense congregations in the Agricultural Hall, Islington. 
The first of the five special services was held on Sunday, March 
24, 1867, when about twelve thousand persons were present The 
preacher's delivery was slow, measured, and emphatic; nothing 
labored; and his voice lost none of its accustomed music. Many 
thousands heard the gospel at that time who were not accustomed 
to attend any place of worship. More than twenty thousand 
were in attendance on the final day. 

The heavy responsibilities which rested on the pastor of the 
Tabernacle in the early part of the year made it necessary for him 



REVIVALS. 79 

to seek a little recreation, and with that he blended a friendly 
service for his esteemed friend Pastor Oncken, by preaching for 
him at the opening of his new Baptist church at Hamburg. 
He included in his travels a visit to Heligoland, which furnished 
for his ready and fertile pen most interesting matter for an article, 
which contains information both curious and valuable not to be 
found elsewhere. 



80 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM XXX. 

I WILL exalt Thee, Lord of hosts, 

For Thou 'st exalted me ; 
Since Thou hast silenced Satan's boasts, 

I '11 therefore boast in Thee. 

My sins had brought me near the grave, 

The grave of black despair ; 
I looked, but there was none to save 

Till I looked up in prayer. 

In answer to my piteous cries, 

From hell's dark brink I'm brought : 

My Jesus saw me from the skies, 
And swift salvation wrought. 

All through the night I wept full sore. 

But morning brought relief; 
That hand which broke my bones before. 

Then broke my bonds of grief. 

My mourning He to dancing turns, 

For sackcloth joy He gives : 
A moment, Lord, Thine anger burns, 

But long Thy favor lives. 

Sing with me then, ye favored men, 
Who long have known His grace ; 

With thanks recall the seasons when 
Ye also sousiht His face. 



C. H. Spurgeon. 



VII. 
MULTIPLYING WORK 



We must ourselves drink of the living water till we are full, and then out of 
the midst of us shall flow rivers of living water; but not till then. Out of an 
empty basket you cannot distribute loaves and fishes, however hungry the 
crowd may be. Out of an empty heart you cannot speak full things, nor from 
a lean soul bring forth fat things full of marrow, nor from a dead heart impart 
life. Be blest, that ye may bless. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



MULTIPLYING WORK. 



RETURNING home, the industrious pastor found abundance 
of important work awaiting him. During the April pre- 
vious the land had been secured at Stockwell for the Orphan 
Houses. The work of preparation for their erection had been 
so far advanced that a great festival was arranged, and on Mon- 
day, September 9, 1867, a party of some four thousand persons 
assembled at Stockwell, a large proportion of the company being 
collectors ; and it was part of the programme for the foundation- 
stones of three of the houses to be laid, and for the numerous 
collectors to lay on the stones their respective contributions. It 
was an auspicious day for Mr. Spurgeon, for his deacons and 
church-members. A widely extended interest had been felt in 
the work, and the occasion became a grand holiday in that 
southern suburb of London. Three of the houses were thus far 
advanced in their progress, namely, the Silver Wedding House, 
the Merchants' House, and the Workmen's House. The united 
sums the collectors laid upon the stones amounted to eleven thou- 
sand dollars. The entire spectacle was both novel and touching. 
Prayers were offered on the occasion, the influence of which it is 
believed will be felt throughout all time. Appropriate hymns 
were sung, each ceremony being conducted with verses specially 
prepared, the first of which was as follows : — 

Accept, O Lord, the grateful love 
Which yields this house to Thee ; 

And on the Silver Wedding House 
Let blessings ever be. 



84 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

It was announced at the close of the ceremony that in addition 
to the one hundred thousand dollars given by Mrs. Hillyard, the 
money in hand was then twenty-seven thousand five hundred 
dollars. The assembly returned home highly delighted with the 
service and the glad tidings they had heard, whilst the pastor, 
worn out with fatigue and anxiety, retired home to rest. 

The mental and physical strain of such heavy responsibilities 
was too much for Mr. Spurgeon, who was soon after laid aside 
quite -ill. Although physically prostrate, his mind was in active 
exercise ; and after being a sufferer for two months, he wrote an 
article for his magazine entitled, ** On my Back," in which he sub- 
missively said, that after two months of ill health and severe pain, 
yet he believed there was a limit to sickness, and that Jesus knew 
all about it, feeling assured that the design of sickness was divinely 
good. This long absence from the pulpit led to the appointment 
of his brother, James Archer Spurgeon, as co-pastor to the church 
at the Tabernacle, and he officially entered on those duties in 
January, 1868. 

Althotigh the year 1868 did not furnish occasion for such impor- 
tant events as the preceding one, yet was there much earnest work 
done by Mr. Spurgeon at his Tabernacle. Not able to do so much 
physical work, he used his pen very freely. He wrote two articles 
for his magazine to advocate the claims of the Colportage Associ- 
ation. In March he delivered at the Tabernacle a lecture on "Our 
History and Work," with Mr. W. McArthur, M.P., in the chair. 
He also wrote an interesting article relating incidents in the life of 
his grandfather. In the month of May he preached the Sermon 
to Young Men at Mr. Martin's Chapel, Westminster, on behalf of 
the London Missionary Society, — a service rendered the more 
cheerfully, remembering, as he did, the prophetic words of good 
Richard Knill, that he would preach in the largest chapel in Lon- 
don. That was probably the largest chapel he had preached in, 
excepting his own. During the same month he spoke at the 
Breakfast Meeting of the Congregational Union. 

In the month of March a generous friend sent to the pastor 
five thousand dollars for the College and five thousand dollars for 
the Orphanage, — such instances of liberality amply testifying 




•James Archer Spukgeon, Co-Pastor. 



MULTIPLYING WORK. 85 

the high estimation in which the noble enterprises of Mr. Spur- 
geon were held by the public. On his birthday, June 19th, a 
great meeting was held, and liberal contributions made for the 
Orphanage. 

Bright as are these spots in the life of the pastor, and in his 
work at the Tabernacle and its belongings, yet there hung over 
his home all the time a dark shadow which Divine Providence sav/ 
fit to place there. Mrs. Spurgeon had long been a great sufferer, 
and to alleviate her sorrows, if possible, a very painful operation 
had to be undertaken. The most skilful surgeons of the land were 
engaged, under the direction of Sir James Simpson, of Edinburgh. 
Prayer was made for her by the whole church, and, by the blessing 
of God, the operation was so far successful that her sufferings were 
alleviated and her life prolonged ; but it has been a life of pain and 
weakness, though with less of anguish. 

A gratifying fact is recorded by Mr. Spurgeon this year, who 
publicly acknowledges the kindness of Dr. Palfrey, of Finsbury 
Square, for his gratuitous and generous professional attendance 
on the poor members of the Tabernacle. 

At Christmastide, and at the opening of the year, the claims 
of Mr. Spurgeon's benevolent agencies were remembered by his 
many friends, who sent him of their worldly substance with gen- 
erous hands, so that he commences the first number of " The 
Sword and the Trowel" for 1869 with a most jubilant note: "Bless 
the Lord, O my soul ! " 

He also made the announcement that a gentleman in Australia 
had written to say he intended to reprint his sermons weekly in 
that far-off land, to give them a yet wider circulation. 

From, the very commencement of his ministry strange tales had 
been put into circulation by his detractors, most of which Mr. 
Spurgeon passed by in silence. Several very ludicrous speeches 
were attributed to him soon after he became popular in London. 
In the midst of his work, at the opening of the year 1869, the 
voice of the slanderer was again heard, and many were troubling 
the busy pastor to know how true were the statements in circu- 
lation respecting him. In reply to all these, under the head of 
" Silly Tales," he wrote in his magazine: ** Friends who write us 



86 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

about silly tales may save themselves the trouble. We have been 
enabled in our ministry and in our walk before God so to act, 
through grace, that we have given no occasion for the slanderers, 
save only that we have kept the faith, and been very jealous for 
the Lord God of Israel. Many of the absurd stories still retailed 
everywhere are the very same libels which were repeated concern- 
ing Rowland Hill and others long gone to their rest." This reply 
will serve its purpose in after years as wellas now. 

Having seen much of the folly too frequently exhibited at funer- 
als, he published his views, with the apt title, " Funerals ; or, a 
Black Business," in which, after exposing the folly of using feath- 
ers and gold-headed sticks in carrying a dead body to the grave, 
he observes : " I would sooner be eaten by crows than have pride 
and pomp feeding on my little savings, which are meant for my 
bereaved wife and children, and not for unsuitable, untimely, and 
unholy show. I have heard that more than four millions of money 
are squandered every year in funeral fopperies. The money buys 
or hires silk scarfs, brass nails, feathers for horses, kid gloves and 
gin for the mutes, and white satin and black cloth for the worms. 
It seems to me to be mighty fine nonsense, more for the pride of 
the living than the honor of the dead, more for the profit of the 
undertaker than any one else." 

In June of that year the first report of the Orphanage was issued, 
which plainly set forth how earnestly the work had been carried on 
for it in having the houses erected and in getting them furnished 
and occupied. Twenty-nine boys were then in residence, one of 
whom was the son of one of the workmen who had assisted in 
building the workmen's house, the father having died after the 
house was erected. 

Taking a short holiday in July, Mr. Spurgeon, accompanied by 
a friend, climbed the summit of Hindhead, in the South of Eng- 
land, then paid a brief visit to the Continent. Soon after his 
return home, in October, he was entirely laid aside. from pas- 
toral work by a slight attack of small-pox. His friends became 
seriously anxious about him, and special prayer was made again 
and again for his recovery. It came slowly, but in anticipation 
thereof the first article in the magazine for November was " A 



MULTIPLYING WORK. 8/ 

Sermon from a Sick Preacher." Possessed of such mighty faith 
in God, and with such indomitable courage, Pastor Spurgeon finds 
opportunities for doing good, and does it, whilst others are con- 
sidering what had best be done. He even wrote directions " How 
to bear Affliction." 

During the progress of his recovery he wrote a New Year's Let- 
ter to his ministering brethren, which commences his magazine for 
1870, in which, with much affectionate earnestness, he urges them, 
even by special means, if ordinary ones fail, to aim at the salvation 
of the soids of their coiigregatiojis, enforcing this duty upon them 
by the example of the Ritualists, who are zealous, working to 
spread their delusions, especially amongst the poor, with whom 
they know how to succeed by bribes of bread and clothing. He 
says he writes as a sick man, but feels the urgency and importance 
of soul-winning, ^ 

The prostrate condition of the pastor's health for nearly three 
months made it necessary for him to appeal with his pen for the 
aid of his friends in sustaining the benevolent works of the Taber- 
nacle. In March, 1870, his appeal took the following form : "The 
pastorate of a church of four thousand members, the direction of 
all its agencies, the care of many churches arising from the Col- 
lege work; the" selection, education, and guidance in their settle- 
ments of the students ; the oversight of the Orphanage, the editing 
of a magazine, the production of numerous volumes, the publica- 
tion of a weekly sermon, an immense correspondence, a fair share 
in public and denominational action, and many other labors, be- 
sides the incessant preaching of the Word, give us a right to ask 
of our friends that we be not allow^ed to have an anxious thought 
about the funds needed for our enterprises." 

This remarkable picture of energy and activity will scarcely be 
surpassed by any man living, if indeed it can be equalled by more 
than one in a million, even in this industrious age. But there were 
other duties pressing on Mr. Spurgeon's mind, at the time, which 
he could not throw off. For some months previously a contro- 
versy had been w^armly carried on in the columns of the *' Christian 
World " newspaper, advocating a curious system of future pun- 
ishment ending in annihilation. The editor of the paper prohib- 



88 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. K. SPURGEON. 

ited in his columns the publication of any letters on the oppo- 
site side, excepting only what Mr. Spurgeon might write. Mr. 
Spurgeon wrote to the editor, pointing out that his conduct 
was not quite frank, and declining on his part to help the agi- 
tation, telhng him that the words of our Lord — ''These shall 
go away into everlasting punishment" — finally settled the point; 
and he held that the publication of views which are opposed 
to that declaration, and the views themselves, were equally 
dangerous. 

Greatly have the funds of the College been aided by the lec- 
tures which its President has given from time to time on its behalf 
After one of his visits to Italy Mr. Spurgeon delivered a very 
interesting and lively lecture on " Rome, and what I saw and 
heard there." Some of the reporters for the daily press — not a 
few of whom a^e Jesuits — rnisrepresented some very material 
portions of the lecture in their abridged account. Mr. Spurgeon 
was obliged to defend himself; and what he said against such 
insidious foes in the pages of his own magazine led to another 
kindred topic being brought before the public about the same 
time, when these same reporters misled the public mind by apply- 
ing to King Victor Immanuel of Italy a prayer which belonged 
only to Immanuel, Victor over sin, the man Christ Jesus. 

In May, 1870, Mr. Spurgeon sent forth a new work entitled 
" Feathers for Arrows," intended to supply preachers and teach- 
ers with useful material for filling up their sermons, lectures, and 
addresses. Ten thousand copies of the book were sold in three 
months. 

The public mind was considerably agitated at that time by the 
action of the School Board in reference to religious teaching in 
their schools ; some wanting to exclude the reading of the Bible 
from them, and so deprive the upgrowing population of the use 
of the best book in the language. A large meeting was held in 
Exeter Hall, in July, in defence of the Bible being daily read in 
elementary schools. Mr. Spurgeon took the chair on the occa- 
sion. The result of the meeting was, the Bible retains its place 
as a daily school book. The wisdom of the decision then made 
has been abundantly manifested since, and especially so by the 



MULTIPLYING WORK. 89 

great gathering of Board-School children in the Crystal Palace in 
July, 1877, when some thousands of prizes were publicly given to 
the pupils for proficiency in knowledge of the Bible, and when it 
was most convincingly shown that parents in London (excepting 
only a few Jews) do not object to their children being taught daily 
from the Word of God. 



90 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM XXXIX. 

Behold, O Lord, my days are made 

A handbreadth at the most ; 
Ere yet 'tis noon my flower must fade, 

And I give up the ghost. 

Then teach me, Lord, to know mine end, 

And know that/ 1 am frail; 
To Heaven let all my thoughts ascend, 

And let not Earth prevail. 

What is there here that I should wait ? 

My hope 's in Thee alone. 
When wilt Thou open glory's gate. 

And call me to Thy Throne ? 

A stranger in this land am I, 

A sojourner with Thee : 
Oh, be not silent at my cry, 

But show Thyself to me. 

Though I 'm exiled from glory's land, 

Yet not from glory's King : 
My God is ever near at hand, 
. And therefore I will sing. 

C. H. Spurgeon. 



VIII. 
RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 



Come, let us live while we live ! Let us serve God to the utmost stretch of 
our manhood ! Let us ask the Lord to brace our nerves, to string our sinews, 
and make us true crusaders, knights of the blood-red cross, consecrated men 
and women who, for the love we bear Christ's name, will count labor to be 
ease, and suffering to be joy, and reproach to be honor, and loss to be gain ! — 
C. H. Spurgeon. 



RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 



THE special religious services held in February, at the Taber- 
nacle, were seasons of much blessing. More than one hun- 
dred members were added to the church in one month. The 
people went to the services expecting to receive good, and they 
were not disappointed. 

Soon after the annual College supper, which was held in March, 
1 87 1, at which the sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars 
was given, Mr. Spurgeon was laid aside by a more than usually 
severe attack of gout, which confined him indoors for three long, 
weary months ; yet in the midst of all his pain and suffering he 
wrote in July of the great mercies he had received from the hand 
of God, and by the bounty of his friends to the Orphanage and 
the College. It was at the close of this protracted attack of 
bodily pain that he was privileged to preach the sermon which 
forms No. 1,000 of his published discourses. Its second title is 
"Bread Enough and to Spare," and it is based on Luke xv. 17. 
It was the delight of the pastor to receive from a friend five thou- 
sand dollars on behalf of the College, in honor of the event just 
named. Who would not pray that God's blessing may rest for- 
ever on that friend? 

Taking the advice of his friends, Mr. Spurgeon proceeded to 
the Continent for a short tour and for rest. His observant eye 
was constantly discovering some passing beauty which his ever- 
ready pencil recorded in his note-book, a book which contains a 
store of incidents which serve to enrich his conversation and fill 
up his magazine. Accordingly, taking Jersey and Guernsey on 



94 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

his way, we find before the end of the year an interesting article 
from his pen, on St. Brelade's Bay. 

As the cold raw winter weather set in, the beloved pastor was 
urged by all his friends to seek a warmer climate. Illness in a 
severe form again overtook him, on the second day of which he 
received a telegram from Boston, in America, offering most hberal 
terms to him if he would go to that country and deliver a series 
of lectures. So large a sum would have been a strong tempta- 
tion to most men, but not so to this minister of Jesus Christ, 
whose prompt reply was, " he had neither time nor strength to 
go to America." Instead of journeying westward for personal 
gain, he started on a pilgrimage to sunny- Italy and the South of 
France, taking what he designated a Scriptural holiday, a forty 
days' rest. Accordingly, leaving gloomy December in England, 
he spent that month in visiting Pompeii, Venice, Florence, Rome, 
Naples, and France, — a fitting holiday after having completed 
nineteen years' labor in London. 

In taking a survey of the work of the year, for the preface to 
his magazine, Mr. Spurgeon sums up the record by saying it had 
been a year of spiritual drought in the churches generally, but 
at the Tabernacle they had witnessed much prosperity, and the 
trained pastors who had gone out from them had beerr also blessed 
in like manner. Eleven students were appointed to pastoral duty 
during 1872. During this year, also, Archibald G. Brown opened 
his large Tabernacle in the East of London. It is a building for 
extent and variety of Christian work second only to Mr. Spur- 
geon's. Mr. Brown is one of the most successful students trained 
in the Pastors' College. 

In the hope that the genial sunshine of Southern Europe, in 
which he had passed out of the old into the new year, would have 
established his health for renewed efforts, the pastor appeared 
once more at the Tabernacle, and at the church meeting in Jan- 
uary, 1873, he had the gratification of finding one hundred and 
thirty-five new members to be received into fellowship, thus dem- 
onstrating that there was life in the church, though its chief pastor 
had been away. The cold, raw, damp weather continuing with 
the new year, he was again prevented from leaving his own home, 



RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 95 

and for many weeks he was unable to preach on the Sabbath.' 
How great a trial that silence was to the preacher, none so well 
knew as himself. Sorrowing greatly at the privation both to 
himself and his church, he yet submitted without murmur to the 
will of God. 

Shut in from the outer world, he had an opportunity of survey- 
ing the progress of the work which was being done at the Taber- 
nacle. The College reports exhibited the out-posts which had 
already been reached by the students, one of whom was laboring 
to set forth Jesus as the only Saviour of sinners, in China; one 
in Sydney, one in Tasmania, one in Adelaide, two in Madrid, one 
in Ontario, one in Ohio, one in Philadelphia, one in South Africa, 
and one in Toronto. What a vast prospect of work to be done 
in the intermediate spaces between each one of those missionary 
agents and the Tabernacle ! 

At the Annual Church Meeting held In February, 1873, the 
total membership was reported at 4,417. The losses during the 
previous year had been 263, the additions were 571, leaving a 
net increase for the year of 308 living members. Well may both 
pastor and deacons rejoice at the presence of the Lord God in 
their midst. At this date came a renewed application from the 
United States to come over and lecture. Note the preacher's 
reply: '* An American firm offer Mr. Spurgeon twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars to deliver twenty-five lectures in that country, at one 
thousand dollars each, and further arrangements can be made for 
one hundred lectures. Although the remuneration offered is very 
far beyond anything our beloved people are likely to give us, we 
prefer to have the gospel according to our Lord's words preached 
freely, rather than to use the Lord's time for earning money for 
our own purse." Well done, Pastor Spurgeon ! ! ! 

Always sympathizing with the oppressed, it did not surprise 
any one to learn that the Fisk Jubilee Singers received an early 
invitation from the pastor and deacons to give one of their con- 
certs in the Metropolitan Tabernacle. It would be difficult to 
determine which party experienced the most delight, the colored 
singers to go and see and hear Mr. Spurgeon speak in his own 
church, or his congregation to welcome, with all the heartiness 



g6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

they could manifest, those hberated slaves, whose vocal powers 
had by anticipation preceded their visit, to insure them a hearty 
greeting. It was indeed a pleasant hour, that which introduced 
the singers, to the vast mass of people which crowded every inch 
of space in the building to hear them. Indeed, hundreds had to 
go away, unable to crowd in anywhere within sight or hearing. 
And the collection which followed it was right royal in amount. 
They cleared about eleven hundred dollars for their University by 
singing at the Tabernacle alone. The effect on the mind of the 
pastor himself, he thus describes in his own magazine : " The 
melodies were rendered by our emancipated friends in a manner 
altogether unique: we have never heard anything like it; pure 
nature untrammelled by rule, pouring forth its notes as freely as 
the wild birds in the spring. The people were charmed : our 
intercourse with the choir was very pleasant." As soon as the 
singers arrived in London on their second tour, they received an 
earnest invitation to repeat their visit to the Metropolitan Taber- 
nacle. 

As the practical pastor was again charged with being too per- 
sonal in preaching, in one of his articles on *' Personal preaching," 
Mr. Spurgeon remarks : *' We aim at speaking personally and 
pointedly to all our hearers; and they are the best judges whether 
we accomplish it, and also as to whether we use language at which 
any man ought to be offended. Very seldom does a week occur 
without our receiving letters from persons unknown to us, thank- 
ing us for advising or comforting them in our sermons, the parties 
evidently being under the impression that some friend had com- 
municated their cases to us, though, indeed, we knew nothing 
whatever of them. Frequently we have had apologetic notes 
acknowledging the justice of the rebuke, and correcting us in 
some minor details of a description supposed to refer to a special 
sinner; whereas we were unaware of the writer's existence. We 
have ceased to regard these incidents as curious, for we remember 
that the Word of God is ' a discerner of the thoughts and intents 
of the heart' " Strange and interesting facts have often reached 
him. At the commencement of Mr. Spurgeon's ministry he related 
having received a letter from a poor shoemaker during the week. 



RESULTS OF OVERWORK. 97 

who said that he was the man who had kept his shop open on the 
Sunday, who had sold only one pair of old boots for one-and- 
eightpence, and that, having broken the Sabbath for so small a 
sum and been so publicly exposed, none but God could have told 
the facts to the preacher, he had resolved to break the Sabbath 
no longer. He became converted, and joined the church ; but 
the preacher had no knowledge of the man till he wrote about 
himself. 

During the spring weather of '73 Mr. Spurgeon did not recover 
his accustomed health, neither did he give up his accustomed 
work, excepting when really unable to leave home. At the end 
of April he preached one of the annual sermons before the VVes- 
leyan Missionary Society, in Great Queen-street Chapel, to the 
largest congregation ever assembled on a similar occasion, at the 
close of which the collection reached an amount greater than had 
ever before been made for that object. 

In June he took part in the services connected with laying 
memorial stones for a new Baptist chapel near his own residence 
at Clapham. He stated that it had long been in his heart to build 
a chapel in that locality, and he had laid aside one thousand dol- 
lars to commence the work, but all his efforts had failed. He was 
glad that others were doing what he had not been able to do. 
He had himself been delighted that year to preach for the Wes- 
leyans, and to speak for the Independents ; but he urged all 
Baptists residing in that district to give to the church which 
intended to assemble in that new erection. In the early part of 
the year Mr. Spurgeon had made a collection at the Tabernacle 
on behalf of the new Surrey Chapel for Mr. Newman Hall, which 
reached five hundred dollars. 

In taking a survey of the literary work of '' The Sword and the 
Trowel" for the year, the editor in his preface for 1873 remarks: 
'* I have been hunting up topics of interest with no small degree 
of anxiety, sending forth the magazine with earnest desires to win 
a hearing and to produce good results of all kinds. I edit the 
periodical most conscientiously, giving it my personal attention, 
and I spare no pains to make it as good as I can." 

The applications made to the College for pastors during 1873 

7 



98 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

were more numerous than had before been made. Thirty of these 
were supphed. Out of that number two were sent to Spain, one 
to India, one to China, one to Prince Edward Island, one to 
Ireland, and one to Scotland. On the 14th of October the foun- 
dation-stone cf the new College buildings was laid by the Presi- 
dent. It was a day which will long be remembered with delight. 
The people on the occasion gave five thousand dollars, and the 
students gave fifteen hundred more ; but the chief joy of the day 
was the whole-day prayer-meeting which the students held, that 
the divine blessing might rest on the work, and upon all connected 
with the College. 



IX. 
TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. 



There is a trying word and a delivering word, and we must bear the one till 
the other comes to us. How meekly Joseph endured his afflictions, and with 
what fortitude he looked forward to the clearing of his slandered character! 
It will be well if, under similar trials, we are able to imitate him and come forth 
from the furnace as thoroughly purified as he was, and as well prepared to bear 
the yet sterner ordeal of honor and power. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. 



THE year 1874 presented but few varieties in the life and 
work of the pastor at the Tabernacle. Of blessings he had 
many, and of trials not a few; but the, work prospered. In May 
the funds of the Orphanage ran dry, and, as there was urgent 
need of five hundred dollars for each week, earnest efforts were 
required. On May the' 8th all the debts were paid; but the bank 
was empty. There was urgent pleading with God, and on that 
very day two thousand dollars was sent in, so that the orphans 
were thereby provided for during another month. In October 
the funds were exhausted again ; and again, in answer to prayer 
and effort, the needed relief came, though the faith of all was 
tried. At that time the pastor was suffering greatly, both in his 
person and family ; his body was weary with rheumatic pains, his 
dear wife a suffering invalid, the care of a church of four thou- 
sand eight hundred members rested upon him, and the cry of the 
orphans was heard for .bread; in the midst of all, his faith failed 
not ; he wrote his assurance that the Lord will provide. Amongst 
other kind of help which came, Messrs. Cory, of Cardiff, sent for 
the good of the Orphanage five thousand dollars. 

The annual meetings for prayer in February, the yearly church 
meeting for reporting the progress of the several agencies at work, 
and the annual supper in March for the benefit of the College, 
were each times of refreshing and blessing, in both spiritual and 
material things. In May the congregation at the Tabernacle had 



I02 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the delightful satisfaction of hearing the Rev. George Miiller, of 
Bristol, preach to them. After carrying on his wonderful Orphan 
Houses near that city for forty years, he felt constrained to go 
forth on a preaching pilgrimage, to declare the goodness of God, 
and to try and stimulate the faith of the Lord's people, and Mr. 
Spurgeon's church shared in his ministrations. It was a fitting 
cordial welcome to a man who was the very embodiment of that 
faith by which Mr. Spurgeon's Orphanage had been erected and 
maintained hitherto ; and Mr. Miiller's discourse embodied much 
of his own personal experience of what God had done by and 
through him, in erecting Orphan Houses on Ashley Downs, free 
from debt, in which two thousand children are daily fed, clothed, 
and educated. To the long record of God's faithful ones, written 
by the Apostle Paul, must be added what was done by the faith 
of George Miiller and his helpers at Bristol, and by Pastor C. H. 
Spurgeon and his helpers at Stockwell. 

Having had repeated invitations to preach in Bedford, in what 
is known as the New Bunyan Meeting, Mr. Spurgeon visited that 
place in the summer of 1874, but the crowds which assembled to 
hear him made it impossible for any building for public worship 
to hold them. Mr. Howard kindly met the people's wants, and 
had one of his large implement sheds fitted up for worship, and 
there the voice of praise and prayer ascended to heaven from 
thousands of voices. It was a memorable day for Bedford, which 
the people will not let pass from their recollection. 

In the summer of 1874 a great cry was raised against Mr. Spur- 
geon for a public utterance in favor of smoking tobacco, which 
was made use of by the press and jealous rivals to lessen his 
influence. In his own defence he wrote as follows : — 

** I demur altogether and most positively to the statement that 
to smoke tobacco is in itself a sin. It may become so, as any 
other indifferent action may, but as an action it is no sin. To- 
gether with hundreds of thousands of my fellow-Christians, I have 
smoked ; and with them I am under the condemnation of living 
in habitual sin, if certain accusers are to be believed. As I would 
not knowingly live even in the smallest violation of the law of 
God, and sin is the transgression of the law, I will not own to sin 



TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. IO3 

when I am not conscious of it. There is growing up in society 
a Pharisaic system which adds to the commands of God the pre- 
cepts of men ; to that system I will not yield for an hour. The 
preservation of my liberty may bring upon me the upbraidings of 
many of the good, and the sneers of the self-righteous : but I 
shall endure both with serenity, so long as I feel clear in my 
conscience before God. 

" The expression ' smoking to the glory of God ' standing alone 
has an ill sound, and I do not justify it; but in the sense in which 
I employed it I still stand to it. No Christian should do anything 
in which he cannot glorify God — and this may be done, according 
to Scripture, in eating and drinking and the common actions of 
life. When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain 
soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have 
felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name; this is what I 
meant, and by no means did I use sacred words triflingly. If 
through smoking I had wasted an hour of my time ; if I had 
stinted my gifts to the poor; if I had rendered my mind less 
vigorous, I trust I should see my fault and turn from it : but he 
who charges me with these things shall have no answer but my 
forgiveness. 

" I am told that my open avowal will lessen my influence, and 
my reply is that if I have gained any influence through being 
thought different from what I am, I have no wish .to retain it. I 
will do nothing upon the sly, and nothing about which I have a 
doubt. 

** I am most sorry that prominence has been given to what 
seems to me so small a matter — and the last thing in my thoughts 
would have .been the mention of it from the pulpit; but I was 
placed in such a position that I must either by my silence plead 
guilty to living In sin, or else bring down upon my unfortunate 
self the fierce rebukes of the anti-tobacco advocates by speaking 
out honestly. I chose the latter; and although I am now the 
target for these worthy brethren, I would sooner endure their 
severest censures than sneakingly do what I could not justify, and 
earn immunity from their criticism by tamely submitting to be 
charged with sin in an action which my conscience allows." 



I04 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

This is a noble reply, but let no one for a moment suppose that 
Pastor Spurgeon advocates the general use of tobacco. By no 
means. And let his accusers remember that indulgence in expen- 
sive dress, or eating and drinking, is not allowable to themselves 
because they refrain from the use of tobacco. Those who would 
wash the disciples' feet should do so with clean hands. 

One* of the most gratifying services at the Tabernacle, during 
the year 1874, was that held on Monday, September 21, when the 
pastor's heart was delighted by admitting both of his sons into 
church fellowship by public baptism. One of Mr. Spurgeon's sis- 
ters has long been a member there, and now his two boys, Charles 
and Thomas, have both a name and a place in the church. Before 
they had been in communion with the church a year they began 
to address a small congregation at Bolingbroke Road, Clapham, 
on the Sabbath day. One of the brothers took the service in the 
morning, and the other in the evening : thus they were both, in 
their eighteenth year, following in the footsteps of their father and 
their ancestors for several generations. May the blessing of their 
fathers' God rest upon and ever abide with them. 

More numerous than ever before were the applications for 
pastors from the Tabernacle College. During the year 1874 the 
new buildings had been opened, and they had been found all 
that could be desired for the convenience, comfort, and health of 
the men. The educational staff had been increased, and additional 
facilities for extending the knowledge of the students afforded. 
Thirty-seven students were located during the year, three of whom 
were sent to the United States, and one to Scotland. Up to the 
end of 1874 the total number of students who had gone out as 
pastors was three hundred and twenty. 

Probably no preacher of the present day has received more 
tokens of affectionate regard, both private and public, personal 
and collective, than Pastor Spurgeon. These might be mentioned 
by the score, but it will suffice to allude to one special instance. 

When Mr. Spurgeon had completed his pastorate of twenty-one 
years, some of his friends resolved to mark their sense of the value 
of his services by a present of ten thousand dollars and a writ- 
ten memorial. On hearing of what was contemplated, the pastor 



TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. I05 

declined the financial part of the proposal, suggesting that their 
gifts find their way to the collection at the College supper. 

At the annual meeting of church-members held on Jan. 5, 1875, ^ 
very elegantly written testimonial, expressive of their devout grati- 
tude to God for having sustained C. H. Spurgeon through twenty- 
one years of faithful, loving, and eminently successful ministry, 
beyond all precedent in the history of the Lord's people, was pre- 
sented. It was a superb and elaborate piece of penmanship, and 
in the border were inserted correct photographic portraits both of 
Mr. Spurgeon and his brother James, the co-pastor. The portraits 
will remain as permanent representations of the two brothers in 
the prime of life. 

The voice of praise and thanksgiving was the foremost theme 
in " The Sword and the Trowel " for January, 1875. The subject 
w^as "Twenty Years of Published Sermons." In an article extend- 
ing to several pages the Editor gives a brief history of the way his 
sermons first began to appear in print, followed by a glance at 
their continuance during a period of twenty years. He informs 
us that as a youth he took great delight in reading the sermons 
of Joseph Irons as they appeared; and he even then conceived 
in his heart that one day he might have a penny pulpit of his own. 
The dream of his boyhood has been realized, and he gratefully 
acknowledges the hand of God in permitting him to issue one 
sermon at the least every week, without a single omission, for 
the last twenty years. This is a privilege and an honor no other 
man in England has attained to ; and the plain, homely, earnest 
manner in which the gospel has been set forth in those sermons 
is set down by the author as the chief cause of their continuance. 
Commencing with a sale of from one to two thousand weekly, they 
rapidly increased till the sale was ten thousand each issue. For 
many years past the sermons have maintained a steady and per- 
manent sale of twenty-five thousand copies. There is a twofold 
marvel connected with these sermons : the first is that the work 
should have been continued so many years without interruption; 
the second, that the sale should have steadily progressed till they 
had reached so large a weekly demand, and that it has been so 
many years maintained at that large number. The sermons are 



I06 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

to be found in every country in the world, and at a moderate 
comiDutation, they have been read during the past twenty years 
by milHons of people. Many hundreds of persons have been 
converted by their perusal, and thousands of preachers have at 
various times either used them in their published form, or adapted 
them to the congregations to which they have been preached by 
others than their author. One Scotch minister translates the ser- 
mons into Gaelic, and from his GaeHc translates them back into 
English, bywhich process he preserves the thoughts, but totally 
loses the phraseology used by Mr. Spurgeon; and in that form 
preaches or reads them to his people. 

One gentleman had copies handsomely bound and presented to 
every crowned head in Europe. A smaller volume was sent, post 
free, to every student in all the English universities, and to all the 
members of both houses of Parliament. That gentleman alone 
gave away two hundred and fifty thousand copies of the sermons, 
and superintended their distribution himself 

With such a history, well may. the preacher close his own 
account of his sermon-publishing labors with the words of the 
Psalmist: ** Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me 
bless His holy name ! " 

But however jubilant the tone of the first article in the January 
magazine, it was not long before the pastor realized how uncertain 
were earthly joys, and how soon they are mixed with sorrows. 
Naturally buoyant in spirit, he was preparing to escape from the 
severe cold of January by a visit to Mentone, where a genial sun 
shines all the year round. Gout and rheumatic pains came on with 
such rapidity and severity that removal from home was impossible. 
His condition will be best described in his own words : — 

" Just preparing for a journey to Mentone when gout and rheu- 
matism came on with such rapidity and severity that removal was 
impossible. Feet and legs became useless except for suffering. 
We had much to do, but were not permitted even to think of the 
many plans of usefulness open. Dr. Palfrey attended, and inti- 
mated that the disease springs from mental causes, and can be as 
fairly reckoned upon when an extra pressure of care or labor 
occurs as the tides may be calculated by the moon. 



TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. IO7 

" We have received many prescriptions for the gout, and should 
have been dead long ago if we had tried half of them. We are 
grateful, but cannot utilize them. The best remedy is to prevent 
our having any anxiety about the College, Orphanage, or the Col- 
portage. If the funds keep up, and the works are carried on, and 
the Lord's blessing rests upon the enterprises, they will be better 
to us than all the lotions, liniments, specifics, and elixirs put to- 
gether, with twenty sorts of magnetisms thrown in." 

After many weeks of intense suffering relief came ; and a brief 
hohday for change was followed by a renewed application to the 
numerous daily duties of his active life. Resuming his Sunday 
morning preaching, he found Mr. Ira D. Sankey one of his audit- 
ors, and at the close of the service the American evangelist led 
the congregation by singing one of his favorite hymns, " Ring the 
Bells of Heaven." Mr. Spurgeon shortly afterwards manifested his 
sympathy with the work carried on by Messrs. Moody and Sankey 
by inviting them to take part in the College anniversary, and by his 
delivering addresses for them at the noonday prayer-meetings, 
and by preaching. Mr. Moody visited Mr. Spurgeon at his resi- 
dence at Clapham, and after dinner learned from his host some 
lessons of practical encouragement in his great evangelistic work. 
Looking over the portraits of Mr. Spurgeon's twin boys, — for 
which they both sat annually from infancy till they were seventeen 
years old, to show their gradual growth, — Mr. Moody has since 
used the fact as a new illustration for his sermons. 

At the annual meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
held in Exeter Hall, Mr. Spurgeon moved the adoption of the reso- 
lution of thanks to the committee and officers ; and in doing so 
stated very plainly that the distribution of the Bible was the best 
remedy against infidelity, ritualism, and all other evils ; and the 
study of its pages tended to bring all Christians nearer to each 
other. He prefaced his address by relating an incident which 
occurred to him three years previously, which is as follows. Sit- 
ting in the Colosseum at Rome with two or three friends, he said: 
*' Is it not glorious to look at this old ruin and see how Christ has 
conquered here ; how all these ruins tell what desolations He hath 
made in the earth ; how He breaketh the bow and scattereth the 



i 



I08 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Spear in sunder? So I said, ' Let us have a tune/ and we sang 

the verse, — 

* Jesus' tremendous name 

Has put our foes to flight ; 
Jesus, the meek, the humble lamb, 
A lion is in fight.' 

Up came two strangers, and said, 'What is that you are singing? 
Let us join you.' One was an American and the other an Enghsh 
clergyman, and we sang together the next verse, — 

* By all hell's host withstood, 

We all hell's host o'erthrow ; 
And conquering them through Jesus' blood, 
We still to conquer go.' 

And so we shall mark our track by the ruin of our adversaries; 
they shall only be remembered by the place which they once 
inhabited, which shall be a desolation and the habitation of the 
bittern for ever and ever." 

Before closing his address, he related the following anecdote ', 
" I have very seldom found it to be a lost thing to give a present 
of a Testament. I was greatly astonished about a month ago. A 
cabman drove me home, and when I paid him his fare, he said : 

* A long time since I drove you last, sir ! ' ' But,' said I, ' I do not 
recollect you ! ' ' Well,' he said, ' I think it is fourteen years ago ; 
but,' he said, ' perhaps you will know this TestamTsnt ! ' pulling 
one out of his pocket. 'What,' I said, 'did I give you that?' 

* Oh, yes,' he said, ' and you spoke to me about my soul, and 
nobody had done that before, and I have never forgotten it.' 
' What,' said I, 'haven't you worn it out?' 'No,' he said, 'I 
would not wear it out ; I have had it bound ! ' — and he had kept 
it very carefully indeed." 

Just at that period Messrs. Moody and Sankey were in the midst 
of their evangelistic labors in London, and Mr. Spurgeon cheer- 
fully and heartily encouraged those earnest men of God. Early 
in May he preached for Mr. Moody one Friday evening to ten 
thousand people in Bow-road Hall, on the healing of the deaf and 
dumb man, as recorded in Mark vii. 24-27. The sermon occu- 
pied nearly an hour in delivery, and was simple, natural, and prac- 



TRIALS AND DELIVERANCES. lOQ 

tical, and was listened to with the attention of persons who seemed 
to be Hstening for Hfe. Few of those who were present, and who 
admired the power of his voice and the vigor of his thoughts, knew 
that he had spoken for two hours that afternoon to the students of 
his College. 

A great grief overshadowed the church at the Tabernacle near 
the end of the month of July, when it was announced that Mrs. 
Bartlett was seriously ill ; and after only a week's illness the labors 
of her most loving and useful life were terminated on August 2. 
On Friday, August 6, a funeral service was held in the Taber- 
nacle, and the interment took place the same afternoon in Nunhead 
Cemetery. The suffering pastor bowed submissively to that divine 
dispensation, knowing that the hand of God was in it. 



no LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM XLL 

Jesus, poorest of the poor! 

Man of sorrows ! Child of grief ! 
Happy they whose bounteous store 

Ministered to Thy rehef. 

Jesus, though Thy head is crowned, 
Crowned with loftiest majesty, 

In Thy members Thou art found 
Plunged in deepest poverty. 

Happy they who wash Thy feet, 
Visit Thee in Thy distress ! 

Honor great, and labor sweet, 

For Thy sake the saints to bless ! 

They who feed Thy sick and faint, 
For Thyself a banquet find ; 

They who clothe the naked saint, 
Round Thy loins the raiment bind. 

Thou wilt keep their soul alive, 

From -their foes protect their head; 

Languishing, their strength revive, 
And in sickness make their bed. 

Thou wilt deeds of love repay ; 

Grace shall generous hearts reward 
Here on earth, and in the day 

When they meet their reigning Lord. 



C. H. Spurgeon. 



X. 
DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 



Let not your zeal evaporate in a mere mist of pious talk, let it flow in streams 
of practical usefulness. Love the brethren of Him who loved you. If there 
be a Mephibosheth anywhere who is lame or halt, help him for that Jonathan's 
sake whose love to us surpasscth the love of women. If there be a poor tried 
believer, weep with him, and bear his cross for the sake of Him who wept for 
you and carried the painful burden of your sins. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 



THE work of Mrs. Bartlett at the Tabernacle has been one of 
the greatest blessings of the place. That lady, born in the 
country in 1807, was converted to God at the age of twelve, and 
immediately she began to persuade others around her to give their 
hearts to God. She became an earnest and devoted praying 
teacher in the Sunday-school, and soon saw some of the children 
turning to God. She then began to visit the villages around her 
house, and was the means of doing much good in that way. After 
her marriage, and with a family claiming her attention, she came 
to London, and, attending New Park-street Chapel, good Deacon 
Olney invited her, in 1859, to take charge of the senior class con- 
nected with the Sunday-school, which had then only three in 
attendance. Suffering from heart disease, she consented to take 
the class for only one month, during which time it had increased 
to fourteen. Supported in her work, her strong faith in God led 
her to say, " God has given me strength for one month, He will 
surely give me strength for another." In 1861, when the new 
Tabernacle was opened, the class had increased to fifty. Such 
was the influence of her earnest, loving words on the young 
women, that soon they numbered a hundred, then two and three, 
and in a short time five hundred attended her services every Sab- 
bath day, and many of them came also on Tuesday and Friday ; 
whilst at her own house, which Mr. Spurgeon called the " House 
of Mercy," she was constantly receiving anxious inquirers after 
salvation. The blessing of God so abundantly rested upon her 
labors, that fully one hundred of her members joined the church 

8 



114 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

annually. They generously collected and gave thousands of dollars 
to the funds of the Pastors' College, besides contributing to relieve 
the wants of the poor in the locality. 

During the year 1875 twenty-nine of the students from the 
Pastors' College were sent into the field of ministerial labor, three 
of whom went into the work abroad, one to Rio Janeiro, one to 
San Domingo, and one to China. 

Before the year closed, a change from the damp cold of the 
November fogs in London to the genial sunshine at Mentone, in 
South Europe, was a necessity for the overworked pastor. Whilst 
resting in the sunny South, Mr. Spurgeon wrote some pleasant 
Recollections of Dr. Brock. Dining one day at Mr. Spurgeon's 
house. Father Olney was present, and Dr. Brock stated that he 
had preached at Park-street Chapel once or twice when a student 
at Stepney College, but he supposed he was not man enough for 
them, as he was not invited to succeed Dr. Rippon. The good 
deacon remarked that the people were much struck with him, but 
he himself was not in office in those days, so had not dared to 
interfere with the august authorities then in power. " See how all 
things are determined by a superintending Providence," replied 
the Doctor; "for if the Park-street people had chosen me, where 
would our friend Spurgeon have come to?" 

On another occasion Dr. Brock and Mr. Spurgeon were dining 
together at the mansion of a beloved friend in Regent's Park, 
when the Orphanage building was in progress, and money was 
wanted which was not in hand. Mr. Spurgeon, suffering from 
feeble health, still expressed his strong faith in God that the 
money would come to hand in due time. Just as the dinner was 
ended the servant entered the room with a telegram from his 
private secretary, announcing that an unknown donor had sent 
five thousand dollars for the Orphanage. Dr. Brock immediately 
rose and poured forth his utterances of gratitude in the most 
joyful manner, and they all united in prayer on their knees to 
magnify the Lord. 

About the same time certain newspapers published reports that 
some sixty Methodist students were yearly received into the classes 
of the Pastors' College. This is noticed to give an opportunity 



DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. II 5 

for Mr. Spurgeon's reply, which was in these words: "We have 
never said anything of the kind, nor is it true. We shall not regret 
if it turns out to be a prophecy. If Methodists improve into 
Baptists, we shall not lament it; but we do not expect it. The 
Church of England has been flirting with the Wesleyans, but we 
have done nothing of the kind ; we have been too busy seeking 
the conversion of the ungodly to have had any time to bait traps 
for members of any other denominations." This reply may be 
taken as a general answer to other false reports which sensational 
editors are too fond of printing in their papers. 

At the annual meeting of church members it was reported that 
510 had been added to the church during the year 1875, that 208 
had removed, leaving the total of church members at 4,813, being 
an increase of 136 on the year. 

The annual meeting of the Colportage Association reported that 
forty-seven men were employed in forty-three districts, and that 
$22,075 had been received for books supplied by that agency. 

The weekly offerings at the Tabernacle ,for 1875, on behalf of 
the Pastors' College, were reported to be $9,375. 

On March ist a very lively, loving, and enthusiastic meeting of 
the collectors was held at the Orphanage, when one thousand 
dollars was paid in, and the orphans sang like cherubs, and 
looked as bright and cheerful as the morning. The meeting was 
interesting in other respects, as will be seen by the following 
extract: "The Rev. John Spurgeon, Charles H. Spurgeon, and 
Thomas Spurgeon — grandfather, father, and son — addressed 
the meeting. The grandsire spoke of twenty years ago, when 
C. H. Spurgeon preached at his grandfather's — James Spurgeon's 
jubilee, and three generations of their family were present on that 
occasion. He blessed God that as the older generations had gone 
new ones had arisen. We all joined in his gratitude, and the 
more so when the grandson proved by his cool, clear delivery, and 
lively, warm-hearted manner, that he would worthily sustain the 
family name." 

There was a still more interesting gathering at the Orphanage, 
on June 20th, when a fete was held to commemorate the anniver- 
sary of the pastor's birthday. The crowds which attended were 



Il6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

beyond all precedent, and at the evening meeting, presided over 
by Sir Plenry Havelock, five Spiirgeons delivered addresses, 
namely, the Rev. John Spurgeon, the grandfather ; his two sons, 
Charles and James Spurgeon ; and Thomas and Charles, the twin 
sons of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon. Seldom does a man find himself 
followed in the ministry by two sons and two grandsons, all living 
to speak at the same meeting. About one thousand dollars was 
contributed that day to the funds of the Orphanage, one friend 
having sent £\2 (two hundred and ten dollars), so as to give a 
golden token of his esteem for every year of the pastor's life. 
The pastor recorded afterwards that his right arm and hand 
would long remember the thousands of hearty salutations he 
had received that day. 

It will be recollected that some twenty-five years before, an ap- 
pointment was made with Dr. Angus, of London, to meet a young 
man at Cambridge, with the intention of arranging for the young 
man to become a student of the Baptist College in London. By 
a very remarkable omission of duty, the college tutor and the 
young man did not meet on that day, and the young man did not 
enter a college. Now that young man has a college of his own, 
in which some of the most able and useful ministers in England 
have been trained, and about forty new Baptist churches have 
been raised in London and its suburbs solely by the students sent 
forth from the Pastors' College. On March 17, 1876, Dr. Angus, 
Avho still presides over the Regent's Park Baptist College, went 
over with his students to pay a fraternal visit to the Pastors' Col- 
lege, and a very pleasant day was thus spent together. Both 
students and tutors were hearty in their greetings. The Taber- 
nacle men escorted their guests over the College and rooms at the 
Tabernacle, and many new acquaintances were made, which will 
surely ripen into enduring friendship when they meet one another 
on the field of service. The addresses delivered on the occasion 
were hearty, solid, and w^ell received, and the social and Christian 
intercourse thus opened will be a blessing to both colleges. 

Another form of helpful service at the Tabernacle is an annual 
gathering of the parents of the children in the Sunday-schools. 
These schools are conducted with so much energy, wisdom, and 



DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. II 7 

efficiency, that they have no need to resort to treats and prizes to 
induce the children to come. They attend in multitudes ; and the 
money usually spent in treats and prizes is devoted to give the 
parents of the children a free tea, which brings them into personal 
contact with Mr. Spurgeon and the teachers, and so a mutual sym- 
pathy and affection is awakened and sustained, and the parents 
help the teachers in their work. 

The Twelfth Annual Conference of the Pastors' College was held 
during the week commencing on Monday, April 3d. It was a time 
of blessing and encouragement to all who took part in the pro- 
ceedings. The inaugural address of Mr. Spurgeon, based upon 
the clause in the creed, '' I believe in the Holy Ghost," was able, 
lucid, and instructive. During the conference, Mr. Phillips gave 
his annual supper, at which the spontaneous gifts to the College 
reached ten thousand dollars. In writing brief notes of that con- 
ference Mr. Spurgeon adds : " Our brain refuses to dictate more. 
If our friends would earnestly ask for us more health and more 
grace we should be deeply grateful." 

Deeply did Mr. Spurgeon feel the need of prayer at that time ; 
for the illness which he felt coming on lasted for three months, 
and was to him and to his church a heavy loss and severe trial. 
The patient pastor poured forth his complaint in the first article 
in his magazine for May, under the title, ''Laid Aside. Why?" 
In this touching fragment from his pen he remarks : *' When the 
Lord is using a man for His glory it is singular that He should all 
of a sudden smite him down and suspend his usefulness. It must 
be right, but the reason for it does not lie near the surface. How 
is it that a heart eager for the welfare of men and the glory of God 
should find itself hampered by a sickly frame, and checked in its 
utmost usefulness by attacks of painful disease? We may ask the 
question, if we do so without murmuring; but who shall answer 
it for us? We are content to leave a thousand mysteries unsolved 
rather than tolerate a single doubt as to the wisdom and goodness 
of our Heavenly Father." 

On Lord's-day evening, July i6th, the great Tabernacle was de- 
serted by its regular attendants, by the special desire of Mr. Spur- 
geon, who wished to throw open the place for a free service to 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

None of the seat-holders were present, — or not more 
than half a dozen, — which Mr. Spurgeon considered ''splendid 
discipline, worthy of the best-trained army, — the discipline of 
love " : and he very sincerely thanked the seat-holders for vacat- 
ing their places so unanimously that the poor might hear the gos- 
pel preached to them in comfort, without even a collection. "The 
Tabernacle was as full as a barrel packed with herrings," and the 
heat was intense. Much prayer was offered at various meetings ; 
and the officers had a baptism of fire from heaven in offering 
prayer before the doors were opened. They also held three 
prayer-meetings and an out-door service to the crowds who could 
not get within the building. Much good was done, many sin- 
ners were awakened, and additions to the church followed. The 
experiment was repeated on Sunday, October 22d, three months 
afterwards ; and this has now become an established service 
periodically. The object of these evangelistic services is to lay 
hold of those who inhabit a world outside the Church, ignoring 
the existence of church or chapel, or even of religion itself. Of 
these there are multitudes amongst both rich ""and poor. After 
each service a number of inquirers come forward," desiring further 
instruction in matters concerning salvation. 

The weekly baptismal service at the Tabernacle on Monday, 
June 26, 1876, was one which awakened deep feelings of gratitude 
in the breast of the pastor. Amongst those who were baptized 
were three friends who were led to confess the Saviour through 
the preaching of the pastor's two sons, Charles and Thomas Spur- 
geon, the first-fruits of their useful ministry. Who could refuse to 
pray, '' God bless the lads " ? 

During half of the month of August Mr. Spurgeon was rambling 
in Scotland amongst " Highland cattle, sea-gulls, herrings, and 
heather." He went north in search of rest, was away thirteen 
days, and had fifty invitations to preach. He yielded four times 
to the entreaty of friends. On Sabbath, August 13th, he preached 
at Blairmore to an immense out-door company, gathered from all 
the surrounding towns. The two services there were happy occa- 
sions, and much Christian fellowship was shown by the Scotch 
brethren to the Metropolitan pastor. 



DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. I I9 

Seeking by all possible means to rescue the perishing, a series 
of special revival services were commenced in the Tabernacle on 
Monday, October 30th, conducted by the College students, hoping 
thereby to benefit the church, which so greatly promotes the use- 
fulness of the College by its weekly offerings. The services were 
only intended for one week, but the meetings were seasons of 
so much blessing that they were continued to November loth. 
Various means were used for gathering in the people to hear the 
Word, and occasionally a band of students resorted to the " high- 
ways," and by singing and preaching compelled them to come in. 
Deep earnestness characterized both speakers and hearers, and on 
every evening the young brethren had to rejoice over some sinners 
brought to repentance. On Thursday afternoon, November 2d, the 
students held a fellowship meeting to seek a blessing on them- 
selves and their work. In the evening Mr. Spurgeon preached to 
them. The Master was manifestly present, and all were blessed 
by the service. There were one hundred and ten students in the 
College when they re-assembled in the autumn. 

On Tuesday, December 12th, Mr. Spurgeon was at Nottingham, 
and preached two of the opening sermons in Mr. Silverton's new 
chapel, which he has appropriately named Exeter Hall. It is a 
building of great capacity, substantial and elegant. It seats two 
thousand people, yet cost only $23,500, apart from the site. Mr. 
Spurgeon said of the services of that day : *' The giving and the 
hearing were of the most enthusiastic order, the amount contrib- 
uted being one thousand dollars." 

At the close of the year 1876 Mr. Spurgeon was assailed by 
some newspapers in an almost savage manner for a prayer which 
he offered one Sunday morning, that the Lord would preserve 
peace, and if our rulers would not learn wisdom, to remove them. 
He did not trouble much about the abuse of the press, knowing 
that it is only when he exposes evil and injustice that a clamor is 
raised. Their fierce language was unheeded, for he received a 
letter from Austria, informing him that the words of his prayer 
had been translated into German and Servian, and had been 
printed in most of the newspapers in those languages, the read- 
ers there rejoicing to think that there was one man in England 



I20 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

who seemed to comprehend the atrocities suffered by the victims 
of Turkish barbarism. 

The annual meeting of the College evening classes was held at 
the Tabernacle on December 22d. By means of these classes two 
hundred men who are working all day receive such educational 
advantages as they require ; thus they do not forget the Lord's 
work. 

During the year, no less than thirty-three students had been 
appointed to churches, four of whom have gone into the work 
abroad, — namely, one to Australia, one to New Zealand, one to 
the Cape of Good Hope, and one to Basle, Switzerland. Very 
gratifying reports have already been received from many of those 
new curates of church work. It is deserving of record that no 
less than sixty Baptist churches in and around London have been, 
or now are, under the pastoral care of students from the Pastors' 
College. More than half the number are entirely new churches, 
raised out of the world, and amongst them are some of the largest 
and most prosperous churches in the denomination. About 
twenty students were sent out fluring the first half of the year 
1877. 

Several times during the spring of the year 1877. large audiences 
of merchants and business men assembled in the great hall at 
the Cannon-street Hotel, and at the Friends' Meeting-house in 
Bishopsgate Street, to hear addresses from Mr. Spurgeon on ques- 
tions of commercial morality and personal salvation. About two 
thousand persons gathered at midday on each occasion to hear 
the words of faithful warning and affectionate invitation. The 
addresses which were delivered have been published at one penny 
each, with the titles '' The Claims of God " and *' Faith in Christ." 

For more than eighty years the annual sermon before the Lon- 
don Missionary Society was preached in Rowland Hill's chapel. 
The last of the series in the old sanctuary was preached in 
May, 1876. Thereafter the official sermon was expected to be 
preached in Christ Church, Westminster Road, and Mr. Spurgeon 
was selected as the preacher of the first sermon of the new series. 
In the course of the sermon he said some plain things about 
preachers who discoursed on subjects which were not the gospel 



DEVISING LIBERAL TBINGS. 121 

of salvation, and sometimes were even opposed to it. A spirit 
of controversy followed, as is usual, but Mr. Spurgeon wisely left 
his critics to entertain their own opinions, unquestioned by him- 
self 

No minister knows better than Mr. Spurgeon the advantages to 
a Christian church of having work for every member, and seeing 
that the work is done. It was no surprise to ma»y of the friends 
at the Tabernacle when, in the spring of 1877, a special mission 
was inaugurated for those young ladies who have leisure, cul- 
ture, and refined taste ; hence a flower mission was commenced. 
Friends in the country send boxes of cut flowers every Wednesday 
to the Tabernacle, when young ladies arrange them, and append 
to them appropriate texts from the Bible, and these are immedi- 
ately distributed, free, to the hospitals in London, where they are 
welcomed with the utmost delight by the poor afflicted inmates, 
and many a blessing is invoked on the committee who distribute 
them as \vell as on those who donate the flowers. 

The inventive spirit has long been in active exercise at the 
Tabernacle ; hence the variety of agencies which exist in that 
church, W'hich are, many of them, unknown in most other church 
organizations. There is a Baptist Country Mission which pro- 
vides, under Mr. Spurgeon's direction, young brethren who visit 
villages and country towns near London, who labor to raise new 
churches in them. These earnest young men are always ready 
to enter on any opening by preaching on the village green, or in 
a cottage or room. There is also the Tabernacle Evangelists' 
Society, which finds speakers for special services in London, and 
works in connection with the churches. These do not restrict 
themselves to any denomination, but cheerfully aid all pastors who 
are willing to accept their help for a short period, or a series of 
meetings. They carry on open-air preaching and lodging-house 
visitation. These are branches of home-missionary work. 

Our social festivals are always occasions of joy, but how gener- 
ally do they partake largely of selfishness ! Mr. Spurgeon has 
discovered the way to combine the highest amount of personal 
happiness wath the most extensive benevolence and philanthropy. 
Who but a man with a large heart and unbounded sympathy could 



122 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

have conceived the plan, and so successfully have carried it out, of 
celebrating the anniversary of his birth by devoting all the gifts 
which loving friends bestowed, to feed the orphan and relieve 
distress? 

Still suffering from the weakness which follows long-contin- 
ued pain, yet no one was more happy than Pastor Spurgeon on 
June 19, 1877, when he kept his forty-third birthday. Some 
thousands of attached personal friends, and friends of the orphan, 
gathered that day at Stockwell Orphanage. The day was fine; 
the gentle zephyrs wafted pleasantly over the enclosed grounds, 
joy sat on every countenance, and a spirit of generosity seemed 
to animate every breast. The orphans and their guardians met 
likewise to unite their loving congratulations to the President of 
the Institution : this feeling of sympathy and kindliness being 
freely manifested by hosts of Tabernacle worshippers, and by 
kind friends from the locality. In the afternoon the pastor 
preached a short sermon in the covered playground from Gen. 
XXX. 27, in which he testified that '* I have learned by experience 
that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake," and he acknowledged 
having received countless blessings through his faithful people. 

An open-air meeting was held in the evening on the grass, 
presided over by Thomas Blake, Esq., M.P., who was ably sup- 
ported by the Rev. M'Connell Hussey, a neighboring clergyman, 
and other friends. In the calm air Mr. Spurgeon sat on the 
platform without his hat, when his son Charles was called on to 
speak. He referred to his father's sufferings from the gout, and 
added, " There he sits without his hat, but he has a will of his 
own." Immediately the hat went on ; so his own will at once 
became the will of the multitude, all of whom were his well- 
wishers. The pastor himself announced that he had that morning 
received seventy-one letters of congratulation, all containing help 
for the orphans, besides which one friend had sent him £4^, (two 
hundred and fifteen dollars), to tally with the number of his years, 
and one of the trustees of the institution had sent a similar 
amount. Mr. Spurgeon commended- very highly the management 
of his brother and Mr. Charlesworth in superintending the Orphan- 
age, and of the working staff -he said he could not wish them 



DEVISING LIBERAL THINGS. 1 23 

to be better, as they would then be too good for work on earth, 
and he assured the meeting that the business of the Orphanage 
was so well conducted that it gave the President only the mini- 
mum of care ; and he sincerely thanked the numerous donors 
who during the day brought in to the treasurer nearly two thou- 
sand dollars. 

The month of January, 1879, will long be remembered. Having 
completed the twenty-fifth year of his pastorate, it was decided 
to celebrate the occasion, which was termed THE PASTORAL Sil- 
ver Wedding, by presenting Mr. Spurgeon with a liberal testi- 
monial. The amount proposed to be raised was twenty-five 
thousand dollars. A large bazaar was opened, which was well 
supported, and with the subscription lists the proceeds exceeded 
the amount originally proposed. 

With his usual large-heartedness he declined accepting the 
amount for his private benefit. There was one important insti- 
tution connected with the Tabernacle that, needed to be placed 
on a surer footing, and this was a fitting opportunity for securing 
that end. The Almshouses, affording homes for nineteen poor 
widows, required a more permanent support, and all the proceeds 
of the " Pastoral Silver Wedding Fund " were devoted to this 
laudable object, thereby insuring its future maintenance. 

May the perusal of the brief personal history of this earnest, 
unselfish, laborious man stir many to inquire, " Lord, what wilt 
Thou have ME to do ? " 



124 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON, 



PSALM XLIV. 

Our ears have heard, O glorious God, 

What work Thou didst of old ; 
And how the heathen felt Thy rod 

Our fathers oft have told. 

'T was not Thy people's arm or sword, 

But only Thy right hand 
Which scattered all the race abhorred, 

And gave Thy tribes their land. 

Thou hadst a favor to the seed 

Which sprang of Jacob's line ; 
And still on men afore decreed 

Doth love electing shine. 

These shall the heritage obtain, 

And drive out every sin ; 
E'en death and hell shall rage in vain, — 

They innst the conquest win. 

From grace alone their strength shall spring, 

Nor bow nor sword can save ; 
To God alone, their Lord and King, 

Shall all their banners wave. 

Awake, O Lord, of Thine elect, 

Achieve Thy great design ; 
Thy saints from Thee alone expect 

Salvation's light to shine. 

In Thee alone we- make our boasts. 

And glory all day long ; 
Arise at once, thou Lord of hosts. 

And fill our mouth with song. 

C. H. Spurgeon. 



XL 

THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, 



Living in the midst of the church of God is like sailing down the Nile in a 
boat. One is charmed widi the luxuriance of either bank, and with much that 
is beautiful immediately around ; but, alas ! at a little distance on either side 
lies a vast uncultivated, we had almost said hopeless, desert. Some are at rest 
because they never look beyond the borders of the church ; but those whose 
sympathies reach to all humanity will have to carry a life-long "burden of the 
Lord." — C. H. Spurgeon. 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 



THE history of the church of which Mr. Spurgeon is overseer 
contains a record of information and interest pecuHar to 
itself. For two hundred and thirty years it has stood the test, 
and some of the best leaders and teachers of Christendom have 
ministered the Word of life to its members. For many years a 
pressure was brought to bear upon its present pastor to furnish 
to the public every possible information regarding its origin, 
growth, and work. Notwithstanding his arduous labors, he has 
responded to this legitimate inquiry, and in a book of one hun- 
dred and twenty pages has sketched the early history of the 
Baptists, the founding of the church, the successive pastors, and its 
present participation in the various branches of education, charity, 
evangelization, and missionary operations with which it stands 
connected. Thus Mr. Spurgeon prefaces his history of the Metro- 
politan Tabernacle : — 

When modest ministers submit their sermons to the press they 
usually place upon the titlepage the words, " Printed by request." 
We might with emphatic truthfulness have pleaded this apology 
for the present narrative, for, times without number, friends from 
all parts of the world have said : " Have you no book which will 
tell us all about your work? Could you not give us some printed 
summary of the Tabernacle history?" Here it is, dear friends, 
and we hope it will satisfy your curiosity and deepen your kindly 
interest. 



128 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The best excuse for writing a history is that there is something 
to tell, and, unless we are greatly mistaken, the facts here placed on 
record are well worthy of being known. In us they have aroused 
fervent emotions of gratitude, and in putting them together our 
faith in God has been greatly established ; we hope, therefore, 
that in some measure our readers will derive the same benefit. 
Strangers cannot be expected to feel an equal interest with our- 
selves, but our fellow members, our co-workers, our hundreds of 
generous helpers, and the large circle of our hearty sympathizers 
cannot read our summary of the Lord's dealings with us without 
stimulus and encouragement. 

Our young people ought to be told by their fathers the won- 
drous things which God did in their day " and in the old time 
before them." Such things are forgotten if they are not every 
now and then rehearsed anew in the ears of fresh generations. 
** Why should the wonders He hath wrought be lost in silence 
and forgot?" We feel that we only discharge a duty to the 
present and coming generations when we use our pen for such a 
purpose. 

May the reader's belief in prayer be increased, and his reliance 
upon God strengthened, as he reads our testimony ; and should he 
unhappily be as yet unconverted, may he be led to believe in God, 
to rest in the sacrifice of Jesus, and cast in his lot with the people 
of God. 

Brethren who have helped us so long, support our enterprises 
still by your prayers, your efforts, and your gifts, and so shall our 
Zion become increasingly a praise in the earth. To the Triune 
God be praise that for two centuries His mercy has surrounded 
this portion of His Church, and that ** His hand is stretched out 
still." 

This church was born in stormy times, when mayors and mobs 
were formidable foes of all who believed in the crown rights of 
King Jesus. The practice of the Baptists in dipping was spe- 
cially obnoxious to the bigots who plied hard the argument that 
it was wicked to immerse persons in cold weather. Mr. Spurgeon 
goes on with the history, which we abridge : — 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 29 



Moved by the feeling that it was the duty of the State to keep 
men's consciences in proper order, the Parhament set to work to 
curb the wicked sectaries, and Dr. Stoughton tells us : '* By the 
Parliamentary ordinance of April, 1645, forbidding any person to 
preach who was not an ordained minister, in the Presbyterian, 
or some other reformed church, — all Baptist ministers became 
exposed to molestation, they being accounted a sect, and not a 
church. A few months after the date of this law, the Baptists 
being pledged to a public 'controversy in London with Edmund 
Calamy, the Lord Mayor interfered to prevent the disputation, — 
a circumstance wdiich seems to show that, on the one hand, the 
Baptists were becoming a formidable body in London, and, on 
the other hand, that their fellow-citizens were highly exasperated 
against them." Or, say rather, that the Lord Mayor's views not 
being those of the Baptists, he feared the sturdy arguments which 
would be brought to bear upon his friends, and concluded that the 
wisest course he .could take was to prevent the truth being heard. 
No Lord Mayor, or even King, has any right to forbid free public 
speech, and when in past ages an official has done so, it is no 
evidence that his fellow-citizens were of the same mind : Jack-in- 
office is often peculiarly anxious that the' consciences of others 
should not be injured by hearing views different from his own. 

From some one of the many Baptist assemblies which met in the 
borough of Southwark, the Tabernacle Church took its rise. Cros- 
by says : " This people had formerly belonged to one of the most 
ancient congregations of the Baptists in London, but separated 
from them, in the year 1652, for some practices which they judged 
disorderly, and kept together from that time as a distinct body." 
They appear to have met in private houses, or in such other build- 
ings as were open to them. Their first pastor was WiLLlAM 
Rider, whom Crosby mentions as a sufferer for conscience' sake, 
but he is altogether unable to give any further particulars of his 
life, except that he published a small tract in vindication of the 
practice of laying on of hands on the baptized believers. The 
people were few in number, but had the reputation of being men 
of solid judgment, deep knowledge, and religious stability, and 
many of them were also in easy circumstances as to worldly 

9 



I30 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

goods. Oliver Cromwell was just at that time in the ascendant, 
and Blake's cannon were sweeping the Dutch from the seas ; but 
the Presbyterian establishment ruled with a heavy hand, and Bap- 
tists were under a cloud. In the following year Cromwell was 
made Protector, the old Parliament was sent about its business, 
and England enjoyed a large measure of liberty of conscience. 

How long William Rider exercised the ministerial office we are 
unable to tell, but our next record bears date 1668, when we are 
informed that, ** the pastor having been dead for some time, they 
unanimously chose Mr. BENJAMIN Keach to be their elder or 
pastor." Accordingly he was solemnly ordained with prayer and 
the laying on of hands in the year 1668, being in the twenty-eighth 
year of his age. Keach was one of the most notable of the pas- 
tors of our church. He was continually engaged in preaching in 
the towns of Buckinghamshire, making Winslow his headquarters; 
and so well did the good cause flourish under his zealous labors, 
and those of others, that the Government quartered dragoons in 
the district in order to put down unlawful meetings and stamp 
out dissent. The amount of suffering which this involved, the 
readers of the story of the Covenanting times in Scotland can 
readily imagine. A rough soldiery handle with little tenderness 
those whom they consider to be miserable fanatics. When the 
favorite court poet was lampooning these poor people and ridi- 
culing their claims to be guided by the Spirit of God, common 
soldiers of the Cavalier order were not likely to be much under 
restraint in their behavior to them. 

Having written a book called *' The Child's Instructor," in which 
he avowed that children are born in sin, and in need of redemp- 
tion by Jesus Christ, he was publicly tried and convicted. The 
merciful (?) judge pronounced upon the culprit the follov/ing 
sentence : — 

" Benjamin Keach, you are here convicted for writing, printing, 
and publishing a seditious and schismatical book, for which the 
court's judgment is this, and the court doth award: That you 
shall go to jail for a fortnight without bail or mainprize; and 
the next Saturday to stand upon the pillory at Aylesbury in the 
open market, from eleven o'clock till one, with a paper upon your 




Benjamin Keach. 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 



3 



head with this inscription: For writing, printing, and publishing a 
scJiisniatical book, entitled The Child s Instructor ; or, a Neiv and 
Easy Primer^ And the next Thursday to stand, in the same 
manner and for the sam.e time, in the market at VVinslow; and 
then your book shall be openly burnt before your face by the 
common hangman, in disgrace of you and your doctrine. And 
you shall forfeit to the King's majesty the sum of twenty pounds, 
and shall remain in jail until you find sureties for your good 
behavior, and for your appearance at the next assizes ; their to 




Benjamin Keach in the Pillory. 

renounce yo?ir doctrines, and make such public submission as shall 
be enjoined you. Take him away, keeper ! " 

Keach simply replied, " I hope I shall never renounce the truths 
which I have written in that book." 

The attempts made to obtain a pardon or a relaxation of this 
severe sentence were ineffectual; and the sheriff took care that 
everything should be punctually performed. 

When he was brought to the pillory at Aylesbury, several of 
his religious friendr, and acquaintances accompanied him ; and 
when they bemoaned his hard case and the injustice of his suf- 



132 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

ferings, he said with a cheerful countenance, '' The cross is the 
way to the crown." His head and hands were no sooner placed 
in the pillory, but he began to address himself to the spectators, 
to this effect: ''Good people, I am not ashamed to stand here 
this day, with this paper on my head ! My Lord Jesus was not 
ashamed to suffer on the cross for me ; and it is for His cause 
that I am made a gazing-stock. Take notice, it is not for any 
wickedness that I stand here ; but for writing and publishing 
those truths which the Spirit of the Lord hath revealed in the 
Holy Scriptures." 

Very sweetly did Mr. Keach preach the great fundamental truths 
of the gospel, and glorify the name and work of Jesus. His " Gos- 
pel Mine Opened," and other works rich in savor, show that he 
was no mere stickler for a point of ceremony, but one who loved 
the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and felt its power. The doctrine 
of the Second Advent evidently had great charms for him, but 
not so as to crowd out Christ crucified. He was very solid in his 
preaching, and his whole conduct and behavior betokened a man 
deeply in earnest for the cause of God. In addressing the un- 
godly he was intensely direct, solemn, and impressive, not flinch- 
ing to declare the terrors of the Lord, nor veiling the freeness of 
divine grace. He was a voluminous writer, having ^yritten in all 
forty-three works, — eighteen practical, sixteen polemical, and nine 
poetical. Some of them were very popular, having reached the 
twenty-second edition. 

Mr, Keach was of a very weak constitution, being often afflicted 
with illness, and once to such a degree that he was given over by 
the physicians ; and several of the ministers, and his relations, had 
taken their leave of him as a dying man and past all hope of recov- 
ery ; but the Reverend Mr. Hanserd Knollys, seeing his friend and 
brother in the gospel so near expiring, betook himself to prayer, 
and in a very extraordinary manner begged that God would spare 
him, and add unto his days the time He granted to His servant 
Hezekiah. As soon as he had ended his prayer, he said, " Brother 
Keach, I shall be in heaven before you," and quickly after left him. 
So remarkable was the answer of God to this good man's prayer, 
that we cannot omit it ; though it may be discredited by some, there 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 33 

were many who could bear incontestable testimony to the fact. 
Mr. Keach recovered of that illness, and lived just fifteen years 
afterwards ; and then it pleased God to visit him with that short 
sickness which put an end to his days. He *'fell on sleep" July i6, 
1704, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was buried at the 
Baptists' burying-ground, in the Park, Southwark. It was not a 
little singular that in after years the church over which he so ably 
presided should pitch its tent so near the place where his bones 
were laid, and New Park Street should appear in her annals as a 
well-beloved name. 

When Mr. Keach was upon his death-bed he sent for his son- 
in-law, Benjamin Stinton, and solemnly charged him to care for 
the church which he was about to leave, and especially urged him 
to accept the pastoral office, should it be offered to him by the 
brethren. Mr. Stinton had already for some years helped his 
father-in-law in many ways, and therefore he was no new and 
untried man. It is no small blessing when a church can find her 
pastors in her own midst; the rule is to look- abroad, but perhaps 
if our home gifts were more encouraged the Holy Spirit would 
cause our teachers to come forth more frequently from among our 
own brethren. Still, we cannot forget the proverb about a prophet 
in his own country. VVhen the church gave Mr. Stinton a pressing 
invitation, he delayed awhile, and gave himself space for serious 
consideration ; but at length, remembering the dying words of his 
father-in-law, and feeling himself directed by the Spirit of God, he 
gave himself up to the ministry, which he faithfully discharged for 
fourteen years, — namely, from 1 704 to 1 71 8. 

Spending himself in various works of usefulness, Mr. Stinton 
worked on till the nth of February, 171 8, when a sudden close 
was put to his labors and his life. He was taken suddenly ill, and 
saying to his wife, *' I am going," he laid himself down upon the 
bed, and expired in the forty-third year of his Hfe. He smiled 
on death, for the Lord smiled on him. He was buried near his 
predecessor, in the Park, Southwark. 

In the beginning of the year 17 19, the church at Horsleydown 
invited John Gill to preach, with a view to the pastorate ; but 
there was a determined opposition to him in about one half of 



34 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



the church. The matter was referred to the club of ministers 
meeting at the Hanover Coffee-house, and they gave the absurd 
advice that the two parties should each hear their own man turn 
about till they could agree. Common sense came to the rescue, 
and this sort of religious duel never came off. The friends, with 
far greater wisdom, divided. John Gill's friends secured the old 
meeting-house for the term of forty years, and he was ordained 
March 22, 1720. 




CARTER-LANE CHAPEL. 

Little did the friends dream what sort of man they had thus 
chosen to be their teacher ; but had they known it they would 
have rejoiced that a man of such vast erudition, such indefatigable 
industry, such sound judgment, and such sterling honesty had 
come among them. He was to be more mighty with his pen than 
Keach, and to make a deeper impression upon his age, though 
perhaps with the tongue he was less powerful than his eminent 
predecessor. Early in his ministry he had to take up the cudgels 
for Baptist views against a P^dobaptist preacher of Rowel, near 
Kettering, and he did so in a manner worthy of that eulogium 
which Toplady passed upon him in reference to other controver- 
sies, when he compared him to Marlborough, and declared that 
he never fought a battle without winning it. 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 35 

Mr. Gill, being settled in London, became more intimately ac- 
quainted with that worthy minister of the gospel, Mr. John Skepp, 
pastor of the Baptist church at Cripplegate. This gentleman, 
though he had not a liberal education, yet, after he came into the 
ministry, through great diligence acquired a large acquaintance 
with the Hebrew tongue. As Mr. Gill had previously taken great 
delight in the Hebrew, his conversation with this worthy minister 
rekindled a flame of fervent desire to obtain a more extensive 
knowledge of it, and especially of Rabbinical learning. Mr. Skepp 
dying a year or two after, Mr. Gill purchased most of his Hebrew 
works, the Baptist Fund making him a grant of eighty-seven dollars 
for this purpose. Having obtained the books, he w^ent to work with 
great eagerness, reading the Targums and ancient commentaries, 
and in a course of between twenty and thirty years' acquaintance 
with these writings he collected a large number of learned observa- 
tions. Having also, in this time, gone through certain books of the 
Old Testament and almost the whole of the New Testament, by way 
of exposition, in the course of his ministry; he put all the expos- 
itory, critical, and illustrative parts together, and in the year 1745 
issued proposals for publishing his " Exposition of the whole New 
Testament," in three volumes folio. The work meeting due en- 
couragement, it was put to press the same year, and was finished, 
the first volume in 1746, the second in 1747, and the third in 1748. 
Towards the close of the publication of this work, in 1748, Mr. 
Gill received a diploma from Marischal College, Aberdeen, creat- 
ing him Doctor in Divinity on account of his knowledge of the 
Scriptures, of the Oriental languages, and of Jewish antiquities. 
When his deacons in London congratulated him on the respect 
which had been shown him he thanked them, pleasantly adding, 
" I neither thought it, nor bought it, nor sought it." 

The ministry of Mr. Gill being acceptable not only to his own 
people but to many persons of different denominations, several 
gentlemen proposed among themselves to set up a week-day 
lecture, that they might have an opportunity of hearing him. 
Accordingly they formed themselves into a society, and agreed 
to have a lecture on Wednesday evenings, in Great Eastcheap, 
and set on foot a subscription to support it. Upon their invita- 



136 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

tion Mr. Gill undertook the lectureship. He opened it in the year 
1729 with a discourse or two on Psalm Ixxi. 16: ** I will go in the 
strength of the Lord God : I will make mention of Thy righteous- 
ness, even of Thine only." Through divine grace he was enabled 
to abide by this resolution to the edification of many, preaching 
in Great Eastcheap for more than twenty-six years, and only relin- 
quished the lecture when the infirmities of years were telling upon 
him, and he felt a great desire to give all his time to the comple- 
tion of his great expository works. 

As a pastor he presided over the flock with dignity and aft'ec- 
tion. In the course of his ministry he had some weak, some 
unworthy, and some very wicked persons to deal with. To the 
feeble of the flock he was an aff"ectionate friend and father. He 
readily bore with their weaknesses, failings, and . infirmities, and 
particularly when he saw they were sincerely on the Lord's side. 
A godly woman visited him one day, in great trouble, about the 
singing; for the clerk, in about three years, had introduced two 
new tunes. Not that he was a famous singer, or able to conduct 
a great variety of song, but he did his best. The young people 
were pleased with the new tunes; but the good woman could not 
bear the innovation. The Doctor, after patiently listening, asked 
her whether she understood singing? No, she said. ''What! can't 
you sing? " No, she was no singer, nor her aged father before 
her. And though they had had about a hundred years between 
them to learn the Old Hundredth tune, they could not sing it, 
nor any othej^ tune. The Doctor did not hurt her feelings by 
telling her that people who did not understand singing were the 
last who should complain; but he meekly said: "Sister, what 
tunes should you like us to sing?" *' Why, sir," she replied, "I 
should very much like David's tunes." ** Well," said he, " if you 
will get David's tunes for us, we can then try to sing them." 
Such weak good people may be found among all denominations 
of Christians. 

All the stories told of Dr. Gill are somewhat grim. He could 
not come down to the level of men and women of the common 
order so far as to be jocose ; and when he attempted to do so he 
looked like Hercules with the distaff, or Goliath threading a needle. 




Dr. John Gill. 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 3/ 

When he verged upon the humorous the jokes were ponderous 
and overwhelming, burying his adversary as well as crushing him. 
It is said that a garrulous dame once called upon him to find fault 
with the excessive length of tiis white bands. '* Well, well," said 
the Doctor, "what do you think is the right length? Take them 
and make them as long or as short as you like." The lady 
expressed her delight ; she was sure that her dear pastor would 
grant her request, and therefore she had brought her scissors with 
her, and would do the trimming at once. Accordingly, snip, snip, 
and the thing was done, and the bibs returned. " Now," said the 
Doctor, " my good sister, you must do me a good turn also." 
"Yes, that I will, Doctor. What can it be?" "Well, you have 
something about you which is a deal too long, and causes me no 
end of trouble, and I should like to see it shorter."' " Indeed, dear 
sir, I will not hesitate," said the dame; " wdiat is it? Here are the 
scissors, use them as you please." " Come, then," said the pastor, 
" good sister, /z// out yoiLv tongue ! '' We have often pictured him 
sitting in the old chair, which is preserved in our vestry, and thus 
quietly rebuking the gossip. 

The comparative asperity of his manner was probably the result 
of his secluded habits, and also of that sturdy firmness of mind, 
which in other directions revealed itself so admirably. When he 
was once warned that the publication of a certain book would lose 
him many supporters and reduce his income, he did not hesitate for 
a moment, but replied: "Do not tell me of losing. I valu6 nothing 
in comparison with gospel truth. I am not afraid to be poor!"" 

The mighty commentator having been followed to his grave by 
his attached church and a great company of ministers and Chris- 
tian people, among whom he had been regarded as a great man 
and a prince in Israel, his church began to look around for a 
successor. This time, as in the case of Dr. Gill, there was trouble 
in store, for there was division of opinion. Some, no doubt, as 
true Gillites, looked only for a solid divine, sound in doctrine, who 
would supply the older saints with spiritual food ; while another 
party had an eye to the growth of the church and to the securing 
to the flock the younger members of their families. They were 
agreed that they would write to Bristol for a probationer, and Mr. 



138 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

John Rippon was sent to them. He was a youth of some twenty- 
summers, of a vivacious temperament, quick and bold. The older 
members judged him to be too young and too flighty; they even 
accused him of having gone up the pulpit stairs two steps at a 
time on some occasion when he was hurried, — a grave offence 
for which the condemnation could hardly be too severe. He was 
only a young man, and came from an academy, and this alone 
was enough to make the sounder and older members afraid of 
him. He preached for a lengthened time on probation, and 
finally some forty persons withdrew because they could not agree 
with the enthusiastic vote by which the majority of the people 
elected him. 

John Rippon modestly expressed his wonder that even more 
had not been dissatisfied, and his surprise that so large a number 
were agreed to call him to the pastorate. In the spirit of forbear- 
ance and brotherly love he proposed that, as these friends were 
seceding for conscience' sake, and intended to form themselves 
into another church, they should be lovingly dismissed with prayer 
and God speed, and that, as a token of fraternal love, they should 
be assisted to build a meeting-house for their own convenience, 
and the sum of fifteen hundred dollars should be voted to them 
when their church was formed and their meeting-house erected. 
The promise was redeemed, and Mr. Rippon took part in the 
ordination service of the first minister. This was well done. Such 
a course, was sure to secure the blessing of God. The church in 
Dean Street thus became another offshoot from the parent stem, 
and with varying conditions it remains to this day as the church 
in Trinity Street, Borough. 

He will be best known as having prepared the first really good 
selection of hymns for dissenting congregations. Although a Bap- 
tist collection, it was extensively used with Dr. Watts's among both 
classes of Congregationalists. This work was an estate to its 
author, and he is said to have been more than sufficiently eager 
to push its sale. One thing we know, his presents of nicely bound 
copies must have been pretty frequent, for we have seen several 
greatly prized by their aged owners, who have showed them to us, 
with the remark, '' The dear old Doctor gave me that himself" 




Dr. John Rippon in his Youth. 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 39 

The happy eccentricity of the Doctor's character may be illus- 
trated by a little incident in connection with royalty. He was 
deputed to read an address from the Dissenters to George III., 
congratulating him upon recovery from sickness. The Doctor 
read on with his usual clear utterance till, coming to a passage 
in which there was special reference to the goodness of God, he 
paused and said : ** Please your Majesty, we will read that again," 
and then proceeded with his usual cool dignity to repeat the sen- 
tence with emphasis. No other man in the deputation would have 
thought of doing such a thing, but from Rippon it came so natu- 
rally that no one censured him, or if they did it would have had 
no effect upon Jdm. 

There are still some in the church who cherish his memory with 
affectionate and well-deserved reverence ; and there are thousands 
in heaven who were led first to love the Saviour by his earnest 
exhortations. He quarried fresh stones, and built up the church. 
He moulded its thought and directed its energies. Without being 
great he was exceedingly useful, and the period in which he v/as 
one of the judges of our Israel was one of great prosperity in 
spiritual things. It was a good sixty-three years, and with the 
previous pastorate of Dr. Gill, enabled the church to say that 
during one hnndred and seventeen years they had been presided over 
by two ministers 07ily. Those who are given to change were not 
numerous in the community. Short pastorates are good when 
ministers are feeble, but it is a great blessing when the saints are 
so edified that all are content, and the ministry is so owned of 
God that vacancies are filled up even before they are felt: in such 
a case change would wantonly imperil the hope of continued pros- 
perity, and would therefore be criminal. 

The next pastor of our church was Mr. — now Doctor — JOSEPH 
Angus, a gentleman whose career since he left us to become sec- 
retary of the Baptist Missionary Society, and afterwards the tutor 
of Stepney Academy, now Regent's Park College, has rendered 
his name most honorable among living Baptists. He is one of 
the foremost classical scholars, and is a member of the committee 
for producing a revised version of the Holy Scriptures. He is the 
author of those standard books, " The Bible Handbook," '* The 



I40 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Handbook of the English Tongue," and '* Handbook of EngHsh 
Literature." 

Mr. James Smith succeeded Dr. Angus, and after a useful pas- 
torate of eight years resigned on account of ill health. In October, 
1849, he wrote: " For a considerable time I have felt an oppres- 
sion on my chest, and great difficulty in breathing. Last week I 
consulted a doctor upon it, and he advised me to leave London as 
soon as I could, and get into the country, as my lungs require a 
purer air. I am seeking wisdom from God : I cannot doubt but 
He will guide me." 

In February, 1850, he said: "I have written my resignation of 
office, and laid it before the deacons. It is a serious and impor- 
tant step which I have taken. I trust I have taken it in a proper 
spirit, and from a right motive. My mind is now calm and peace- 
ful, the agitation from which I have long been suffering is at an 
end, and I feel as if I could now leave the matter with the Lord, 

** When my resignation was accepted, the church passed a very 
kind and affectionate resolution regretting that I felt it necessary 
to take such a step ; but as I had rested it pretty much on the 
state of my health, they did not feel that they could refuse to 
accede to my wishes. I cannot say that I have labored in vain 
here, for many souls have been converted, some backsliders have 
been restored, and between four hundred and five hundred mem- 
bers have been added to the church during my pastorate of eight 
years. Many of my poor people deeply feel the step which I 
have felt it my duty to take, and I have received very affectionate 
letters from several of them. May they soon be favored with a 
pastor more suitable and efficient than I have been." 

Mr. Smith built up in Cheltenham the strong working church 
now meeting in Cambray Chapel, which was erected by his exer- 
tions. When he was lying upon his dying bed the church at the 
Tabernacle sent him a heartily affectionate letter, and gratefully 
reminded him of all the blessing which the Lord had bestowed 
upon many souls by his means. To this we received a delightful 
answer, assuring us that our words had greatly cheered him. He 
died in 1861, and an account of an interview with him may inter- 
est the reader if we include it in our pages. '' I saw this week 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. I4I 

the former pastor of this church, Mr. James Smith of Cheltenham. 
About a year ago he was struck with paralysis, and one half of 
his body is dead. But yet I have seldom seen a more cheerful 
man in the full heyday of strength. I had been told that he was 
the subject of very fearful conflicts at times; so after I had shaken 
hands with him, I said : * Friend Smith, I hear you have many 
doubts and fears!' 'Who told you that?' said he, 'for I have 
none.' 'Never have any? Why, I understood you had many 
conflicts.' 'Yes,' he said, 'I have many conflicts, but I have no 
doubts ; I have many wars within, but I have no fears. Who 
could have told you that? I hope I have not led any one to think 
that. It is a hard battle, but the victory is sure.' Then he said 
in his own way, ' I am just like a packet that is all ready to go by 
train, packed, corded, labelled, paid for, and on the platform, 
waiting for the express to come by and take me to glory. I wish 
I could hear the whistle now.' " 

In July, 185 I, the church invited the REV. WlLLL\M WALTERS, 
of Preston, to become the pastor, but as he understood the dea- 
cons to intimate to him that his ministry- was not acceptable, he 
tendered his resignation, and although requested to remain, he 
judged it more advisable to remove to Halifax in June, 1853, thus 
closing a ministry of two years. These changes sadly diminished 
the church and marred its union. The clouds gathered heavily, 
and no sunlight appeared. 

[But this did not long continue, as in the next year the youthful 
pastor of Waterbeach, CHARLES H. Spurgeon, in his twentieth 
year, accepted the invitation of the church, and has continued 
his fruitful ministry there for eight and twenty years.] 

Under date January 6, 1 861, there stands in the records the 
following solemn declaration, signed by the pastor and leading 
friends : " This church needs rather more than ^4,000 (twenty 
thousand dollars) to enable it to open the new Tabernacle free of 
all debt. It humbly asks this temporal mercy of God, and be- 
lieves that for Jesus' sake the prayer will be heard and the boon 
bestowed. As witness our hands." 

Now let the reader mark that, on May 6th of the same year, the 
pastor and many friends also signed their names to another testi- 



142 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



mony, which is worded as follows : *' We, the undersigned, mem- 
bers of the church lately worshipping in New Park-street Chapel, 
but now assembling in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Nevrington, 
desire with overflowing hearts to make known and record the 
loving-kindness of our faithful God. We asked in faith, but our 
Lord has exceeded our desires, for not only was the whole sum 
given us, but far sooner than we had looked for it. Truly, the 
Lord is good and worthy to be praised. We are ashamed of our- 
selves that we have ever doubted Him, and we pray that as a 
church and as individuals we may be enabled to trust in the Lord 




NEW PARK-STREET CHAPEL, 
The first building in which Mr. Spurgeon preached in London. 



at all times with confidence, so that in quietness we may possess 
our souls. To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost we offer praise and 
thanksgiving, and we set to our seal that God is true." 

After about a month of Opening Services, regular work com- 
menced at the Tabernacle in May, i86t, the whole building being 
free of debt ^ and the accounts showing that $156,660 had been 
received, and the same amount expended. Truly we serve a 
gracious God. 

The Tabernacle is 146 feet long, 81 feet broad, and 62 feet high. 
There are some 5.500 sittings of all kinds. There is room for 
6,000 persons without excessive crowding; and we have also a 
lecture-hall holding about 900, schoolroom for 1,000 children, six 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 43 

class-rooms, kitchen, lavatory, and retiring rooms below stairs. 
We have a ladies' room for working meetings, young men's class- 
room, and secretary's room on the ground floor ; three vestries, 
for pastor, deacons, and elders on first floor, and three store-rooms 
on the second floor. The accommodation is all too little for the 
work to be carried on, and we are glad to use the rooms at the 
Almshouses and the College. 

In October, 1867, the pastor having for several years been laid 
aside at intervals by painful illness, and it having been stated by 
eminent physicians that this was due to the over-straining of his 
mental powers, the deacons and elders, after consulting together, 
recommended the church to request Mr. J. A. Spurgeon to 
become co-pastor with his brother, to relieve him of much of the 
pastoral work. This happy arrangement was carried out January 
9, 1868, and has been a great comfort to the senior pastor, both 
in church and college work. Mr. James Spurgeon is now also 
the pastor of a large and growing church in Croydon, for which 
he has erected a noble chapel, where he is able to exercise his 
ministry on the Lord's day ; his help being mainly required at the 
Tabernacle upon week days, and in the general oversight of the 
church. No more efficient or sympathetic helper could possibly 
have been found. 

In addition to the College and Orphanage, the following insti- 
tutions are also connected with the Tabernacle. Who shall dare 
say that this is not ^ WORKING CHURCH ? We collate from 
trustworthy documents. 

Tabernacle Building Fund. — Capital twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars. The capital is lent out without interest to chapels in debt, 
to encourage them to clear themselves of their liabilities. Thus 
this capital remains and continues to benefit one church after 
another. The fund was originally raised in order that the pastor 
might feel that in case of his death there would be money avail- 
able to pay for the completion of the studies of the men in 
College. 

Mrs. Spurgeon' s Book Fund. — The pastor's beloved wife, 
touched with the poverty of many ministers, commenced this 



144 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

fund to supply the most needy with books. She makes this the 
pleasant business of her life, when she has respite from pain, and 
sufficient strength. 

Mr. Onckeiis German Mission. — The church supports two 
missionaries in Germany, — at Templin and Hamburg. 

Mission to the yews. — There is a small auxiliary to this mis- 
sion. 

Mr. Orsmmis Mission in Golden Lane, City, one of the most 
useful in all London, is an entirely independent enterprise, but 
Mr. Orsman is still a member at the Tabernacle. 

Richmond-street Mission and Schools, Walworth. — In 1875 new 
premises were erected for this mission at a cost of over four 
thousand five hundred dollars, which is all paid. Sund.ay and 
Ragged Schools, and adult classes. Children in schools, 6$o. 
Preaching, tract distribution. Band of Hope, evangehstic work, 
&c., all in active operation. 

Green Walk Mission, Bermondsey. — A mighty warfare against 
sin has been carried on here, and very many brought to Jesus and 
added to the Tabernacle church. Hall thronged to hear the gos- 
pel. About 350 children in the schools. Mothers' meetings. Band 
of Hope, Tract Society, Open Air Mission, Bible and Singing 
Classes, and children's special service. All at work and all alive. 

James Grove, Peckham. — Here a chapel has been built and a 
congregation gathered, with schools. Many members have been 
added to the Tabernacle church, and Ave hope ere long to form 
them into a separate community and let them run alone. 

Mr. Hampton s Blind Mission. — Established some years, for the 
evangelization of the poor blind. There is a Sunday-school for 
blind children. Tea is given on Sunday afternoon to the blind 
and their guides, and then service is held. Two hundred blind 
and guides attend. 

Mrs, Thomas s Mothers' Mission. — Our afflicted friend carries 
on this work with the help of some of our members, and it is a 
great success. Seventy women are on the books. Clothes, loan- 
boxes, &c., provided for poor women. 

Other mothers' meetings are held by various ladies of the 
church. 



THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE. 1 45 

Tabernacle Sunday-school. — Held in the Tabernacle school- 
room and in the College. Children, 1,000 in regular attendance; 
150 in senior classes, each of which deserves separate mention 
if we had space. Young Christians' Association, 216 members. 
Children's and teachers' library. The school raises from $250 
to $300 per annum for the Baptist Missionary Society. There is 
a Band of Hope and a working class. 

Almshouse^. — The day-schools are as full as they can hold. 
Here there are Sunday-schools, and an adult class of 120 mem- 
bers. 

OrpJianage, — Here, too, Sunday-school work goes on vigor- 
ously. 

Mrs. Bartletfs Class. — This famous class, since the decease of 
its invaluable leader, is now presided over by her son Edward, 
who is an indefatigable laborer in many ways. The class is well 
attended, numbering from 500 to 700; it carries on many meet- 
ings and works of usefulness, and manifests a right royal liberality 
to the College, for which it raises a large amount annually. Very 
many have come into the church from this class. 

Mr. Perkins's Bible Class. — An earnest, united band of young 
men, who meet on Sabbath afternoons in the vestry of the Tab- 
ernacle. They carry on different works of usefulness and aid 
the College. 

Mr. Bowkers Bible Class is of the same character, and meets 
in the Octagonal Room of the College. It is an earnest class, 
helps its own poor, works for Jesus, and aids in supporting the 
College. 

Mr. Charlesworth has a Ladies Bible Class on Thursdays before 
the service, and a Yonng Mens Bible Class on Sabbath afternoons, 
both prospering. The two classes support a Bible-carriage. 

Baptist Country Mission. — A small society, but full of life. It 
seeks to evangelize the villages by open-air preaching, and open- 
ing rooms for services. With small funds, it has during late 
years carried on three promising interests, — in Putney, Waltham- 
stow, and Carshalton. Others in past years have become self- 
supporting churches, and so will these. It is making attempts in 
villages further afield, and Christ is preached faithfully. It is an 

10 



146 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

evangelistic effort for the suburbs and country. Its expenditure 
was only three hundred dollars in one year. 

Evangelists' Association. — Is fully at work in halls, lodging- 
houses, street corners, the. Tabernacle steps, &c. Services have 
been successfully carried on at Dunn's Institute and Tabernacle 
Almshouses, and in various chapels where the ministers have 
allowed evangelistic meetings to be held. This society sends 
brethren to any church needing such assistance. 

Loan Tract Society for Tabernacle District. — Tracts and the 
pastor's sermons are lent out, and two thousand families visited 
every week. Several conversions have resulted. 

General Loan Tract Society. — Supplies the pastor's sermons in 
free grants to poor districts, where friends arrange for their loan. 
With the very best results, this work has been carried on in seven- 
teen counties of England. 

Another society, called The Rock Loan Tract Society, lends 
sermons chiefly in country villages. 

The Ordinance Poor Fttnd distributes among the poor members 
of the church about four thousand dollars annually. 

Ladies' Benevolent Society. — For making clothing and relieving 
the poor. A very useful society. 

Ladies' Maternal Society. — For the aid of poor women in their 
confinements. One hundred and sixty-two boxes of hnen lent 
during the year. 

Mrs. Evans s Home and Foreign Missionary Working Society 
makes up boxes of garments for missionaries, and also for poor 
ministers and their families at home. This is a blessed work, and 
has made glad many a poor servant of Jesus. 



XII. 
THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 



Souls are not saved by systems, but by the Spirit. Organizations without 
the Holy Ghost are mills without wind, or water, or steam power. Methods 
and arrangements without grace are pipes from a dry conduit, lamps without 
oil, banks without capital. Even the most Scriptural forms of church govern- 
ment and effort are clouds without rain till the "power from on high" be 
given. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 



COLLEGES may become a bane or a blessing. How many 
of them, have been harmful in their unsanctified learning ! 
What responsibility rests upon the faculty of a college ! Not 
always through evil teaching, but by indiffererice on the part of the 
professors, have there been so many moral wrecks in these halls 
of learning. Indifference, we say, on the part of teachers who had 
no care for their students beyond that of teaching the young idea 
how to shoot a classic bow, or dig up Greek and Latin roots. 
Nevertheless, the Christian student must take the blame upon 
himself if he departs from the living God. There are, however, 
colleges which are " schools of the prophets," where the moral 
and mental requirements are faithfully considered and judiciously 
ministered unto. From such training-ground men of might come 
forth fit for the battle, hke David's heroes, bold as lions, and 
swift as the roes upon the mountains. Oh, that their name were 
legion ! 

The • unswerving aim of Mr. Spurgeon has been to help his 
young men in Bible knowledge, so that they may be thoroughly 
furnished unto all good works. He has had long experience in 
Christian work, and every year his conviction deepens that there 
cannot be a healthy church where an unspiritual minister leads. 
In addition, therefore, to the development of intellect, and as the 
great desideratum, he prays and labors to bring his students into 
the life of faith and deep Christian experience. To an unloving 
heart Jesus will not commit the care of His sheep. The first and 
only question with Him is, "Lovest thou Me?" And the beloved 



150 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON.. 

president of the Pastors' College is in sympathy with his gracious 
Master's purpose, viz., that men filled with divine love may be 
sent forth duly qualified to preach the gospel and to teach God's 
Word to the world lying in wickedness. 

None is better fitted to speak of the College, from its incipiency 
to its present successful administratioh, than its honored presi- 
dent. Its object, methods, and results are thus sketched by his 
own pen : — 

The College was the first important institution commenced by 
the pastor, and it still remains his first-born and best beloved. To 
train ministers of the gospel is a most excellent work, and when 
the Holy Spirit blesses the effort, the result is of the' utmost 
importance both to the Church and to the world. 

The Pastors' College commenced in 1856, and during this long 
period has unceasingly been remembered of the God of heaven, 
to whom all engaged in it offer reverent thanksgiving. When it 
was commenced, I had not even a remote idea of whereunto it 
would grow. There were springing up around me, as my own 
spiritual children^ many earnest young men who felt an irresistible 
impulse to preach the gospel, and yet with half an eye it could 
be seen that their want of education would be a sad hindrance 
to them. It was not in my heart to bid them cease their preach- 
ing, and had I done so, they would in all probability have ignored 
my recommendation. As it seemed that preach they would, 
though their attainments were very slender, no other course was 
open but to give them an opportunity to educate themselves for 
the work. 

The Holy Spirit very evidently had set His seal upon the work 
of one of them, by conversions wTought under his open-air ad- 
dresses ; it seemed therefore to be a plain matter of duty to 
instruct tliis youthful Apollos still further, that he might be fitted 
for wider usefulness. No college at that time appeared to me to 
be suitable for the class of men that the providence and grace 
of God drew around me. They were mostly poor, and most of 
the colleges involved necessarily a considerable outlay to the 
student; for even where the education was free, books, clothes, 








George Rogers, for many Years Tutor in the Pastor's College. 



THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 151 

and other incidental expenses required a considerable sum per 
annum. Moreover, it must be frankly admitted that my views 
of the gospel and of the mode of training preachers were and 
are somewhat peculiar. I may have been uncharitable in my 
judgment, but I thought the Calvinism of the theology usually 
taught to be very doubtful, and the fervor of the generality of 
the students to be far behind their literary attainments. It seemed 
to me that preachers of the grand old truths of the gospel, min- 
isters suitable for the masses, w^ere more likely to be found in 
an institution where preaching and divinity would be the main 
objects, and not degrees and other insignia of human learning. 
I felt that, without interfering with the laudable objects of other 
colleges, I could do good in my own way. These and other 
considerations led me to take a few tried young men, and to put 
them under some able minister, that he might train them in the 
Scriptures, and in other knowledge helpful to the understanding 
and proclamation of the truth. This step appeared plain ; but 
how the work was to be conducted and supported was the question, 
— a question, be it added, solved almost before it occurred. 

Two friends, both deacons of the church, promised aid, which, 
Avith what I could give myself, enabled me to take one student, 
and I set about to find a tutor. In Mr. George Rogers, God sent 
us the very best man. He had been preparing for such work, and 
was anxiously waiting for it. This gentleman, who has remained 
during all this period our principal tutor, is a man of Puritanic 
stamp, deeply learned, orthodox in doctrine, judicious, witty, 
devout, earnest, liberal in spirit, and withal juvenile in heart to 
an extent most remarkable in one of his years. My connection 
with him has been one of uninterrupted comfort and delight. The 
most sincere affection exists between us; we are of one mind and 
of one heart; and, what is equally important, he has in every case 
secured not merely the respect but the filial love of every student. 
Into this beloved minister's house the first students were intro- 
duced, and for a considerable period they were domiciled as 
members of his family. 

Encouraged by the readiness with which the young men found 
spheres of labor, and by their singular success in soul-winning, I 



152 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

enlarged the number; but the whole means of sustaining them 
came from my own purse. The large sale of my sermons in 
America, together with my dear wife's economy, enabled me to 
spend from three thousand dollars to four thousand dollars in a 
year in my own favorite work ; but on a sudden, owing to my 
denunciations of the then existing slavery in the States, my entire 
resources from that " brook Cherith " were dried up. I paid as 
large sums as I could from my own income, and resolved to spend 
all I had, and then take the cessation of my means as a voice 
from the Lord to stay the effort, as I am firmdy persuaded that 
we ought under no pretence to go into debt. On one occasion 
I proposed the sale of my horse and carriage, although these 
were almost absolute necessaries to me on account of my -contin- 
ual journeys in preaching the Word. This my friend Mr. Rogers 
would not hear of, and actually offered to be the loser rather than 
this should be done. Then it was that I told my difficulties to 
my people, and the weekly offering commenced ; but the incom- 
ings from that source were so meagre as to be hardly worth calcu- 
lating upon. I was brought to the last pound, when a letter came 
from a banker in the City, informing me that a lady, whose name 
I have never been able to discover, had deposited a sum of one 
thousand dollars, to be used for the education of young men for 
the ministry. How did my heart leap for joy ! I threw myself 
then and henceforth upon the bounteous care of the Lord, whom 
I desired with my whole heart to glorify by this effort. Some 
weeks after, another five hundred dollars came in, from the same 
bank, as I was informed, from another hand. Soon after Mr. 
Phillips, a beloved deacon of the church at the Tabernacle, began 
to provide an annual supper for the friends of the College, at 
which considerable sums have from year to year been given. A 
dinner was also given by my liberal publishers, Messrs. Passmore 
and Alabaster, to celebrate the publishing of my five-hundredth 
weekly sermon, at which twenty-five hundred dollars were raised 
and presented to the funds. The College grew every month, 
and the number of students rapidly advanced from one to forty. 
P'riends known and unknown, from far and near, were- moved to 
give little or much to my work, and so the funds increased as 



THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 1 53 

the need enlarged. Then another earnest deacon of the church 
espoused as his special work the weekly offering, and by the 
unanimous voice of the church under my care the College was 
adopted as its own child. Since that hour the weekly offering 
has been a steady source of income, till in the year 1869 the 
amount reached exactly ^^1,869 ($9,345). 

There have been during this period times of great trial of my 
faith ; but after a season of straitness, never amounting to absolute 
want, the Lord has always interposed and sent me large sums (on 
one occasion five thousand dollars) from unknown donors. When 
the Orphanage was thrust upon me, it did appear likely that this 
second work would drain the resources of the first, and it is very 
apparent that it does attract to itself some of the visible sources 
of supply ; but my faith is firm that the Lord can as readily keep 
both works in action as one. My own present inability to do so 
much, by way of preaching abroad, occasions naturally the failure 
of another great source of income ; and as my increasing labors 
at home will in all probability diminish that stream in perpetuity, 
there is another trial of faith. Yet, if the Lord wills the work to 
be continued. He will send His servant a due portion of the gold 
and silver, which are all His own ; and therefore as I wait upon 
Him in prayer, the All-sufficient Provider will supply all my needs. 
About twenty-five thousand dollars is annually required for the 
College, and the same sum is needed for the Orphanage; but God 
will move His people to liberality, and we shall see greater things 
than these. 

While speaking of pecuniary matters, it may be well to add 
that, as many of the young men trained in the College have raised 
new congregations and gathered fresh churches, another need has 
arisen, — namely, money for building chapels. It is ever so in 
Christ's work ; one link draws on another, one effort makes another 
needed. For chapel-building, the College funds could do but 
little, though they have freely been used to support men while 
they are collecting' congregations ; but the Lord found for me 
one of His stewards, who, on the condition that his name remains 
unknown, has hitherto, as the Lord has prospered him, supplied 
very princely amounts for the erection of places of worship, of 



154 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

which more than forty have been built, or so greatly renovated 
and enlarged as to be virtually new structures. Truly may it be 
said, ''What hath God wrought! " 

Pecuniary needs, however, have made up but a small part of 
our cares. Many have been my personal exercises in selecting 
the men. Candidates have always been plentiful, and the choice 
has been wide ; but it is a serious responsibility to reject any, and 
yet more to accept them for training. When mistakes have been 
made, a second burden has been laid upon me in the dismissal of 
those who appeared to be unfit. Even with the most careful man- 
agement, and all the assistance of tutors and friends, no human 
foresight can secure that in every case a man shall be what we 
believed and hoped. A brother may be exceedingly useful -as an 
occasional preacher; he may distinguish himself as a diligent 
student; he may succeed at first in the ministry; and yet, when 
trials of temper and character occur in the pastorate, he may be 
found wanting. We have had comparatively few causes for regret 
of this sort, but there have been some such, and these pierce us 
with many sorrows. I devoutly bless God that He has sent to 
the College some of the holiest, soundest, and most self-denying 
preachers I know, and I pray that He may continue to do so; but 
it would be more than a miracle if all should excel. While thus 
speaking of trials connected with the men themselves, it is due 
to our gracious God to bear testimony that these have been com- 
paratively light, and are not worthy to be compared with the great 
joy which we experience in seeing so many brethren still serving 
the Lord according to their measure of gift, and all, it is believed, 
earnestly contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints; 
nor is the joy less in remembering that eleven have sweetly fallen 
asleep after having fought a good ^fight. At this hour some of 
our most flourishing Baptist churches are presided over by pastors 
trained in our College, and as years shall add ripeness of experi- 
ence and stability of character, others will be found to stand in 
the front rank of the Lord's host. 

The young brethren are boarded generally in twos and threes, 
in the houses of our friends around the Tabernacle, for which the 
College pays a moderate weekly amount. The plan of separate 



THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 1 55 

lodging we believe to be far preferable to having all under one 
roof; for, by the latter mode, men are isolated from general fam- 
ily habits, and are too apt to fall into superabundant levity. The 
circumstances of the families who entertain our young friends are 
generally such that they are not elevated above the social position 
which in all probability they will have to occupy in future years, 
but are kept in connection with the struggles and conditions of 
every-day life. 

Devotional habits are cultivated to the utmost, and the students 
are urged to do as much evangelistic work as they can. The 
severe pressure put upon them to make the short term as useful 
as possible, leaves small leisure for such efforts, but this is in most 
instances faithfully economized. Although our usual period is 
two years, whenever it is thought right the term of study is 
lengthened to three or four years ; indeed, there is no fixed rule, 
all arrangements being ordered by the circumstances and attain- 
ments of each individual. 

As before hinted, our numbers have greatly grown, and now 
range from eighty to one hundred. Very promising men, who 
are suddenly thrown in our way, are received at any time, and 
others who are selected from the main body of applicants come 
in at the commencement of terms. The church at the Tabernacle 
continues to furnish a large quota of men, and as these have usu- 
ally been educated for two or more years in our Evening Classes, 
they are more advanced and better able to profit by our two years 
of study. We have no dif^culty in finding spheres for men who 
are ready and fitted for them. There is no reason to believe that 
the supply of trained ministers is in advance of the demand. Even 
on the lowest ground of consideration, there is yet very much land 
to be possessed ; and when men break up fresh soil, as ours are 
encouraged to do, the field is the world, and the prayer for more 
laborers is daily more urgent. If the Lord would but send us 
funds commensurate, there are hundreds of neighborhoods need- 
ing the pure gospel, which we could by His grace change from 
deserts into gardens. How far this is a call upon the reader let 
him judge as in the sight of God. Shall there be the gifts and 
graces of the Spirit given to the Church, and shall there not also 



156 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. li. SPURGEON. 

be sufficient bestowed of the earthly treasure? How much owest 
thou unto my Lord? 

The College was for some little time aided by the zealous 
services of Mr. W. Cubitt, of Thrapstone, who died among us, 
enjoying our highest esteem. Mr. Gracey, the classical tutor, a 
most able brother, is one of ourselves, and was in former years 
a student, though from possessing a solid education, he needed 
little instruction from us except in theology. In him we have 
one of the most efficient tutors living, a man fitted for any post 
requiring thorough scholarship and aptness in communicating 
knowledge. Mr. Fergusson, in the English elementary classes, 
does the first work upon the rough stones of the quarry, and we 
have heard from the men whom he has taught in the Evening 
Classes, speeches and addresses which would have adorned any 
assembly, proving to demonstration his ability to cope with the 
difficulties of uncultured and ignorant minds. Mr. Johnson, who 
zealously aids in the evening, is also a brother precisely suited to 
the post which he occupies. These Evening Classes afford an 
opportunity to Christian men engaged during the day to obtain an 
education for nothing during their, leisure time, and very many avail 
themselves of the privilege. Nor must I forget to mention Mr. 
Selway, who takes the department of physical science, and by his 
interesting experiments and lucid descriptions gives to his listen- 
ers an introduction to those departments of knowledge which most 
abound with illustrations. Last, but far from least, I adore the 
goodness of God which sent me so dear and efficient a fellow- 
helper as my brother in the flesh and in the Lord, J. A. Spur- 
geon. His work has greatly relieved me of anxiety, and his 
superior educational qualifications have tended to raise the tone 
of the instruction given. 

As to the quality of the preachers whom we have been enabled 
to send forth, we need no more impartial witness than the good 
Earl of Shaftesbury, who was kind enough to express himself 
publicly in the following generous terms : — 

" It was an utter fallacy to suppose that the people of England 
would ever be brought to a sense of order and discipline by the 
repetition of miserable services, by bits of wax candle, by rags of 



THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 157 

Popery, and by gymnastics in the chancel : nothing was adapted 
to meet the wants of the people but the Gospel message brought 
home to their hearts, and he knew of none who had done 
better service in this evangelistic work than the pupils trained 
in Mr. Spurgeon's College. They had a singular faculty for 
addressing the population, and going to the very heart of the 
people." 

Each year the brethren educated at the Pastors' College are 
invited to meet in conference at the Tabernacle, and they are gen- 
erously entertained by our friends. The week is spent in holy 
fellowship, prayer, and intercourse. By this means men in remote 
villages, laboring under discouraging circumstances and ready to 
sink from loneliness of spirit, are encouraged and strengthened : 
indeed, all the men confess that a stimulus is thus given which 
no other means could confer. 

All things considered, gratitude and hope are supreme in con- 
nection with the Pastors' College ; and with praise to God and 
thanks to a thousand friends, the president and his helpers gird 
up the loins of their minds for yet more abundant labors in the 
future. To every land we hope yet to send forth the gospel in 
its fulness and purity. We pray the Lord to raise up missionaries 
among our students and make every one a winner of souls. 
Brethren, remember this work in your prayers, and in your allot- 
ment of the Lord's portion of your substance. 

When the necessity for new college buildings was plainly indi- 
cated, a friend in May, 1873, sent $5,000 towards that object. On 
October 14, 1873, the foundation-stone of those buildings was laid, 
when the people contributed $5,000, the students gave $1,500, 
and undertook to raise the amount to $5,000. In 1874 Messrs. 
Cory and Sons, of Cardiff, sent for the benefit of the fund $5,000 
worth of paid-up shares in their colliery company. In July, 1875, 
the president received $25,000 for the same object as a legacy 
from the late Mr. Matthews. These are named as examples of the 
various ways in which God has answered prayer and rewarded 
the faith of His servant in that important work. 

Shortly before the new College buildings were commenced, 
Mr. Spurgeon, by an article in '* The Sword and the Trowel," 



158 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

directed public attention to the institution. The following extract 
will suffice: — 



The supply of men as students has been always large, and at 
this time more are applying than ever. Our one aim has been to 
train preachers and pastors. The College is made into a home 
missionary society for the spread of the gospel. One of our 
students, Mr. F. E. Suddard, was first, in 1872, among seven com- 
petitors for one of the Dr. Williams' scholarships at the Glasgow 
University. In the metropolis alone, forty-five churches have 
been founded. 

One of the students has commenced a cause in Turk's Island ; 
he is now carrying on evangelistic work in St. Domingo*, where, 
if he is spared, he is likely to become the apostle of that island, 
and also of Hayti. One brother has gone to serve the Lord in 
China, two others are laboring in Spain. Several are doing a good 
work in Canada, and more than twenty brethren have become 
pastors in America, and seven others are gone as far south as 
Australia. One is a missionary in India, and another in Prince 
Edward Island. 

The suitable and commodious new buildings, which have been 
erected and furnished, cost about $75,000, all of which is paid. 
Here we have a fine hall, excellent class-rooms, a handsome 
library, and, in fact, all that a college can require. The way in 
which the money was raised was another instance of divine good- 
ness ; $15^000 was given as a memorial to a dear and lamented 
husband; $10,000 was a legacy to the College from a reader of 
the sermons. The ministers who had been formerly students came 
to our help in a princely fashion. Large amounts were made up 
by the unanimous offerings of Tabernacle friends on days when 
the pastor invited the members and adherents to be his guests at 
the College. In answer to prayer, the gold and the silver have 
been ready when needed. How our heart exults and blesses the 
name of the Lord. 

The Evening Classes are in a high condition of prosperity, there 
being about two hundred men in regular attendance, and a con- 
siderable number among them of hopeful ability. Out of this 



f- 




The Pastor's College. 



THE PASTORS' COLLEGE. 1 59 

class city missionaries, lay preachers, writers for the press, and 
colporteurs are continually coming. It is an eminently useful 
part of the College work. 

There are now hundreds of men proclaiming the gospel who 
have been trained in the College. We are daily expecting more 
missionaries to be raised up among us. 

Our statistics, which are far from being complete, show that 
these brethren baptized 20,676 persons in ten years (i 865-1 874), 
that the gross increase to their churches was 30,6^7, and the net 
increase 19,498. Laus Deo. 



l60 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM LIII. 

The foes of Zion quake for fright, 

Where no fear was they quail ; 
For well they know that Sword of might 

Which cuts through coats of mail. 

The Lord of old defied their shields, 
And all their spears He scorned ; 

Their bones lay scattered o'er the fields, 
Unburied and unmourned. 

Let Zion's foes be filled with shame, 

Her sons are blessed of God ; 
Though scoffers now despise their name, 

The Lord shall break the rod. 

Oh, would our God to Zion turn, 

God with salvation clad ; 
Then Judah's harps should music learn. 

And Israel be glad. 

C. H. Spurgeon. 



XIII. 
PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 1881. 



Petrarch's works are said to have lain so long in the roof of St. Mark's at 
Venice, that they became turned into stone; by what process deponent sayeth 
not. To many men it might well seem that the Word of God had become petri- 
fied, for they receive it as a hard, lifeless creed, a stone upon which to sharpen 
the daggers of controversy, a stumbling-block for young beginners, a millstone 
with which to break opponents' heads, after the manner experienced by Abime- 
lech at Thebez. A man must have a stout digestion to feed upon some men's 
theology — no sap, no sweetness, no life, but all stern accuracy and fleshless 
definition. Proclaimed without tenderness and argued without affection, the 
gospel from such men rather resembles a missile from a catapult than bread 
from a Father's table. Teeth are needlessly broken over the grit of systematic 
theology, while souls are famishing. To turn stones into bread was a tempta- 
tion of our Master; but how many of His servants yield readily to the far worse 
temptation to turn bread into stone ! . Go thy way, metaphysical divine, to the 
stone-yard, and break granite for McAdam, but stand not in the way of loving 
spirits who would feed the family of God with living bread. The inspired Word 
is to us spirit and life, and we cannot afford to have it hardened into a huge 
monolith or a spiritual Stonehenge — sublime but cold, majestic but lifeless; 
far rather would we have it as our own household book, our bosom companion, 
the poor man's counsellor and friend. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 1881 



ON enquiring the other day for the secretary of one of our 
largest societies, I was informed that he had gone to the 
seaside for a month, in order that he might have quiet to prepare 
the report. I do not wonder at this if he has aforetime written 
many descriptions of the same work, for every year increases the 
difficulty unless a man is prepared to say the same thing over 
and over again. Very few can, like Paganini, perform so admira- 
bly on one string that everybody is charmed with the melody. 
The task grows still harder when the year has been peaceful and 
successful. It has been truly said, *' Happy is the nation which 
has no history," because it has been free from changes, wars, con- 
vulsions, and revolutions ; but I may remark, on the other hand, 
unhappy is the historian who has to produce a record of a certain 
length concerning a period which has been innocent of striking 
events, — making bricks without straw is nothing to it. The Pas- 
tors' College has of late maintained the even tenor of its way, 
knowing little of external attack and nothing of internal strife. 
Regular in its work and fixed in its purpose, its movement has 
been calm and strong. Hence there are no thrilling incidents, 
painful circumstances, or striking occurrences with which to fill 
my page and thrill my reader's soul. Gratitude writ large is 
about the only material at hand out of which to fashion my report. 
" Bless the Lord, O my soul ! " is my one song, and I feel as if I 
could repeat it a thousand times. 

The College started with a definite doctrinal basis. I never 
affected to leave great questions as moot points to be discussed in 
the hall, and believed or not believed, as might be the fashion of 



l64 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the hour. The creed of the College is well known, and we invite 
none to enter who do not accept it. The doctrines of grace, 
coupled with a firm belief in human responsibility, are held with 
intense conviction, and those who do not receive them would not 
find themselves at home within our walls. The Lord has sent us 
tutors who are lovers of sound doctrine and zealous for the truth. 
No uncertain sound has been given forth at any time, and we would 
sooner close the house than have it so. Heresy in colleges means 
false doctrine throughout the churches : to defile the fountain is 
to pollute the streams. Hesitancy which might be tolerated in an 
ordinary minister would utterly disqualify a teacher of teachers. 
The experiment of Doddridge ought to satisfy all godly men that 
colleges without dogmatic evangelical teaching are more* likely 
to be seminaries of Socinianism than schools of the prophets. 
Old Puritanic theology has been heartily accepted by those re- 
ceived into our College, and on leaving it they have almost with 
one consent remained faithful to that which they have received. 
The men are before the public in every part of the country, and 
their testimony well known. 

This institution has now reached its twenty-fifth year, and its 
object, spirit, and manner of work remain the same. It was 
intended from the first to receive young men who had been 
preaching for a sufftcient time to test their abilities and their 
call to the work of the ministry; and such young men have 
been forthcoming every year in growing numbers. Some bodies 
of Christians have to lament that their ministry is not adequately 
supplied : I know of one portion of the Church which is sending 
up to heaven bitter lamentations because as the fathers depart to 
their rest there is scanty hope that their places will be filled ; but 
among the Baptists the candidates for the ministry are, if possible, 
too plentiful. This is a new state of things, and is to be interpreted 
as indicating growth and zeal. Certainly the applicants are not 
tempted by rich livings, or even by the prospect of competent 
support; or, if they are, I take abundant pains to set before them 
the assured truth that they will find our ministry to .be a warfare 
abounding in long marches and stern battles ; but equally notable 
for meagre rations. Still they come, and it needs a very hard heart 



PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 1 88 1. 165 

to repel them, and to refuse to eager brethren the drill and equip- 
ment which they covet so earnestly. If it were wise to increase 
the number of students, another hundred of suitable men could at 
once be added to those who are already under tuition. 

From the commencement our main object was to help men who 
from lack of funds could not obtain an education for themselves. 
These have been supplied not only with tuition and books, gratis, 
but with board and lodging, and in some cases wnth clothes and 
pocket money. Some very successful brethren needed everything, 
and if they had been required to pay, they must have remained 
illiterate preachers to this day. Still, year by year, the number 
of men who are ready to support themselves in whole or in part 
has increased, and I believe that it is increasing and will increase. 
As a college we have had to struggle with a repute based upon 
falsehood and created by jealousy; but this has not injured us to 
any great extent ; for men come to us from America, Australia, 
and the Cape, and applications have frequently been made from 
foreign countries. German students have attended our classes 
during their own vacations, and members of other colleges are 
usually to be seen at our lectures. The institution never deserved 
to be charged with giving a mere apology for an education ; and if 
ever that reproach could have been justly cast upon us, it is utterly 
undeserved now that the time of study has become more extended, 
and a fuller course of training has thus become possible. Scholar- 
ship for its own sake was never sought and never will be within the 
Pastors' College; but to help men to become efficient preachers 
has been and ever will be- the sole aim of all those concerned in 
its management. I shall not, in order to increase our prestige, 
refuse poor men, or zealous young Christians whose early educa- 
tion has been neglected. Pride would suggest that we take " a 
better class of men ; " but experience shows that they are not bet- 
ter, that eminently useful men spring from all ranks, that diamonds 
may be found in the rough, and that some who need most pains 
in the polishing, reward our labor a thousandfold. My friends will 
still stand by me in my desire to aid the needy but pious brother, 
and we shall rejoice together as we continually see the ploughman, 
the fisherman, and the mechanic taught the way of God more 



1 66 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

perfectly, and enabled through divine grace to proclaim in the 
language of the people the salvation of our God. 

During the past year about one hundred and twenty men have 
been with us ; but as some have come and others have gone, the 
average nurriber in actual residence has averaged one hundred. 
Of these a few have been with us three years, and more have 
entered upon the third year. The rule is that a man's usual 
period terminates at the end of two years, and his remaining 
longer depends upon the judgment formed of him. Certain men 
will never get beyond an English education, and to detain them 
from their work is to repress their ardor without bestowing a 
compensatory advantage. In other cases, the longer the period 
of study the better. Probably the third year is to many -a stu- 
dent more useful than the other two, and he goes forth to his 
life-work more thoroughly prepared. I could not lengthen the 
course in former days, when churches tempted the brethren 
away before the proper time, as they too often did. They told 
these raw youths that it was a pity to delay, that if they left their 
studies souls might be saved, and I know not what besides ; and 
some were induced to run away, as Rowland Hill would have said, 
before they had pulled their boots on. If I constrained them to 
remain, the good deacons of the eager churches thought me a 
sort of harsh jailer, who locked up his prisoners and would not 
give them up at the entreaty of their friends. One wrote and 
bade me loose the brother, for the Lord had need of him, and I 
would have let the young man go if I had thought that he was one 
of the donkeys to whom the passage referred. That a number 
of brethren may have entered upon their ministry prematurely 
was no fault of mine, but of those who tempted them to quit 
their classes too soon. However,^ there have been periods in 
which there is a lull in the demand of the churches for ministers, 
and then we have been able to retain the men for a longer season. 
Such a time is passing over us just now, and I do not regret it, 
for I am persuaded it is good to give the brethren a longer space 
for preparatory study. 

I have been very ill through the greater part of the past year, 
and have therefore been unable to give so much personal service 



PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 1 88 1. 1 6/ 

to the College as I have usually done. This has been a sore 
trial to me, but it has been much alleviated by my beloved 
brother, J. A. Spurgeon, the vice-president, who has looked after 
everything with great care ; and I have also been greatly com- 
forted by the knowledge that the tutors are as deeply concerned 
about the holy service as ever I can be. It has been -my joy to 
learn that the College was never in a better state in all respects 
than now, and that the men under training give promise of be- 
coming useful preachers. I have had very little weeding work 
to do on my coming back to my place, and those whom I Jiave 
removed were not chargeable with any fault, but their capacity 
was questioned by the tutors. All through the year this painful 
operation has to be carried on, and it always causes me much 
grief; but it is a necessary part of my official duty as president. 
Young men who come to us loaded with testimonials are occa- 
sionally found after a while to be lacking in application or in 
spiritual power; and after due admonishment and trial they have 
to be sent back to the place from whence they came. Others are 
as good as gold, but their heads ache, and their health fails under 
hard study, or from lack of mental capacity they cannot master 
the subjects placed before them. These must be kindly but firmly 
set aside; but I always dread the task. This thinning-out process 
is done with conscientiousness, under the guidance of the tutors; 
but this year there has been little need of it, and I have rejoiced 
in the fact, since frequent depression of spirit has made it unde- 
sirable to have much trying work to do. I am glad to say that 
very rarely have I had to deal with a* case of moral failure. Bad 
young men have crept in among us, and no men are perfect; but 
I have great comfort in seeing the earnest and prayerful spirit 
which has prevailed among the brotherhood. 

Foremost among our aims is the promotion of a vigorous spirit- 
ttal life among those who are preparing to be under-shepherds 
of Christ's flock. By frequent meetings for prayer, and by other 
means, we labor to maintain a high tone of spirituality. I have 
endeavored in my lectures and addresses to stir up the holy fire ; 
for zvell I know that if the heavenly flame burns low, nothing else 
will avail. The earnest action of the College Missionary Society 



1 68 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

has been a source of great joy to me ; for above all things I 
desire to see many students devoting themselves to foreign work. 
The Temperance Society also does a good work, and tends to 
keep alive among the men a burning hatred of England's direst 
curse. 

We need the daily prayer of God's people that much grace may 
be with all concerned in this important business ; for what can we 
do without the Holy Spirit? How few ever pray for students! 
If ministers do not come up to the desired standard, may not the 
members of the churches rebuke themselves for having restrained 
prayer on their account? When does a Christian worker more 
need prayer than in his early days, when his character is forming 
and his heart is tenderly susceptible both of good and evil, influ- 
ences? I would beseech all who have power with God to remem- 
ber our colleges in their intercessions. The solemn interests 
involved in the condition of these schools of the prophets compel 
me to entreat, even unto tears, that the hopeful youth of our 
ministry may not be forgotten in the supplications of the saints. 
For us also, who have the responsible duty of guiding the minds 
of these young men, much prayer is requested, that we may have 
wisdom, love, gentleness, firmness, and abounding spiritual power. 
It is not every man who can usefully influence students, nor can 
the same men have equal power at all times. The Divine Spirit 
is needed, and He is given to them that ask for His sacred 
teaching. 

In Great Britain three hundred and fifty-five former students 
are preaching the Word, some in the more prominent pulpits of 
the denomination, and others in positions where their patience 
and self-denial are severely tested by the present depression in 
trade, and the consequent inabihty of rural congregations to 
furnish them with adequate support. The College has reason 
to rejoice not only in the success of her most honored sons, but 
in the faithfulness and perseverance of the rank and file, whose 
services, although they are little noticed on earth, will receive the 
** well done " of the Lord. 

This institution is not alone a College, but a Home and Foreign 
Missionary Society. Our three evangelists have traversed the 



PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 1 88 1. 169 

land with great diligence, and the Lord has set His seal to their 
work. 

It is my greatest pleasure to aid in commencing new churches. 
The oftener brethren can create their own spheres the more glad 
shall I be. It is not needful to repeat the details of former 
reports ; but many churches have been founded through the 
College, and there are more to follow. I announced at the be- 
ginning of this enterprise that it was not alone for the education 
of ministers, but for the general spread of the gospel ; and this 
has been adhered to, a part of the income being always expended 
in that direction. 

A very considerable number of Pastors' College men are to 
be found at the Antipodes. I cannot forget that there I have a 
beloved son ; but next to that in nearness to my heart is the fact 
that so many of my spiritual sons are there, prospering and bring- 
ing glory to God. It was with no little delight that I received 
the following letter from some of them. Readers must kindly 
excuse expressions of affection which are so natural from friends ; 
I could not cut them out without destroying the spirit of the 
letter : — 

Melbourne, Victoria, Nov. 2, 1880. 

Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. 

Honored and Beloved President, — A number of former 
students of the College being met together at this metropolis of 
the Antipodes, it was most heartily agreed that we should send 
you an expression of our warm love. For truly we can say that 
instead of distance or even time causing any abatement of love 
towards you personally, or towards the institution which we 
may with truth style our Alma Mate}% we find it intensified and 
hallowed. 

The meetings of the Victorian Baptist Association are now 
being held in this city, which has brought most of us together; 
but the Melbourne Exhibition has brought to us Brother Harry 
Woods from South Australia, and Brother Harrison from Delo- 
raine, Tasmania. Our Brother A. J. Clarke's house is the ren- 
dezvous for all the brethren, and the cheery hospitality of himself 



I/O LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

and wife prove them to be called to the episcopate. Though all 
the brethren, so far as we know, have had blessing this year, some 
of them wonderfully so, yet our Brother A. J. Clarke, here at 
West Melbourne, has experienced a year of toil and harvesting 
in which we all rejoice, and which exercises a stimulating effect 
upon all who hail from ** the College." 

When a number of us were bowing in prayer together, we felt 
how thoroughly you would have been with us in spirit, as we 
prayed that we might oppose, in the might of God, the awful 
world-spirit of this region, and that our souls might be kept 
wholly loyal to King Jesus, having no " fellowship with the 
unfruitful works of darkness." • 

Finally, beloved servant of God, we hail you in the name pf our 
Triune Jehovah ! No words of ours can express our personal 
obligation to you. But by fidelity to Christ and to truth, by 
manifesting that we have caught the spirit of burning love to 
souls which burns in your own breast, and by serving to our 
utmost ability, and to the last day of life, in the kingdom and 
patience of Jesus, we hope to show that all your care and that of 
the tutors and friends of the Tabernacle has not been ill-bestowed. 
We remain, 

Yours in the bonds of eternal love, 

Wm. Christr. Bunning, Geelong. 

William Clark, Ballarat. 

Alfred J. Clarke, West Melbourne. 

H. H. Garrett, Brighton. 

Henry Marsden, Kew. 

J. S. Harrison, Deloraine, Tasmania. 

Harry Woods, Saddleworth, S. Australia. 

F. G. Buckingham, Melbourne. 

Similarly in Canada the Lord has been with those 'who have 
gone from the College. My brother, J. A. Spurgeon, during his 
visit to Canada, formed a branch of our Conference there, and 
from it the annexed loving epistle has lately come. 



PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 1 88 1. I /I 

567 York Street, London, East Ontario, 
Canada, April 6, 188 1. 

Beloved President, — We, the members of the Canadian 
branch of the Pastors' College Brotherhood, herewith greet you 
lovingly (and our brethren through you) on the occasion of your 
Annual Conference, which we hope may surpass even the best of 
by-gone gatherings, in all holy joy and such spiritual refreshing as 
may fit all for more abundant service. 

Need we say how deeply we feel for all the sufferings by which 
our President is made to serve, the while we gratefully recognize 
" the peaceable fruit " of those sufferings in such enriched utter- 
ances as we have lately read? We love our dear President as of 
yore, remembering days of prayerful tryst in which we heard him 
sigh and groan his longings for our course. 

During another year we have been "kept by the power of God," 
and used in service ; and although we are in some cases separated 
even here by many dreary miles of continent, we still hold and are 
held to and by the old-day kindness ; and, better still, " the form 
of sound words." 

We "shake hands across the vast," loved President and brethren, 
and wish you every joy in Conference. 

For the Canadian Brethren, 

Yours affectionately, 

Joseph Forth, 
President for 1881 of the Canadian Branch of the 
Pastors' College Brotherhood. 

A point of great interest, to which I hope the Lord may turn 
the attention of many of His servants, is that of English evangel- 
isjts for India. Mr. Gregson, the well-known missionary, has urged 
upon me the great utility of sending out young men who should 
preach the gospel to those in India who understand the English 
language, whether British, Eurasian, or educated Hindoo. He 
advises that the men should be sent out for five years, and there- 
fore be subjected to no remark should they return at the end of 
that period. He thinks it probable that they would acquire a lan- 
guage and remain abroad as missionaries ; but if not, they would 



172 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

be missionary-advocates on their return home, and arouse among 
our churches fresh enthusiasm. It is beHeved that in many cities 
churches could be gathered which would support these men as 
their ministers, or that at least a portion of their expenses would 
be found on the spot. I have determined to enter upon this field 
as God shall help me ; and Mr. H. R. Brown, who has been for 
years the pastor of the church at Shooter's Hill, has reached Cal- 
cutta, on his way to Darjeeling in the hill country. If the Lord 
shall prosper him there, I hope he will live long in that salubrious 
region, build up a church, and become the pioneer of a little band 
of evangelists. Our native tongue is sure to spread among the 
educated Hindoos, and hence many a heathen may be brought to 
Jesus by evangelists who do not understand any of the languages 
of the East; and meanwhile our countrymen, too often irreligious, 
may be met with by divine grace, and find Christ where the most 
forget Him. I hope many friends will take an interest in this effort, 
and assist me to carry it out. 

Funds have come in as they have been needed ; but apart from 
a legacy, now nearly consumed, the ordinary income has not been 
equal to the expenditure of the year. The balance at the banker's 
is gradually disappearing; but I do not mention this with any 
regret, for He who has sent us supplies hitherto will continue His 
bounty, and He will move His stewards to see that this work is not 
allowed to flag from want of the silver and the gold. With a sin- 
gle eye to His glory I have borne this burden hitherto, and found 
it light; and I am persuaded from past experience that He will 
continue to keep this work going so long as it is a blessing to His 
Church and to the world. I am greatly indebted to the generous 
donors at the annual supper, and quite as much to the smaller 
weekly gifts of my own beloved congregation, which, in the aggre- 
gate, have made up the noble sum of $9,100. I am sorry to say 
that a considerable legacy left to the College will in all probability 
be lost through the law of mortmain. This is a great disappoint- 
ment ; but if one door is shut another will be opened. 

Into the hands of Him who worketh all our works in us we 
commit the Pastors' College for another year. 



XIV. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



We are not 'wide enough awake in doing good. Pardon the reference for 
the sake of the lesson ; it shall be borrowed from Dr. Marigold's cart. When 
a cheap-jack has a little knot of people round his van, he eyes them 'all, and 
feels sure that the man who is standing over there is a butcher, and that yonder 
young lad has more money than brains, and that the girl near him is out with 
her sweetheart and is soon to be married ; now, mark, he will hold up the exact 
articles which are likely to attract these customers, and in his harangue he will 
have jokes and telling sentences which will turn butcher and lad and lass into 
purchasers. He cares not a jot for elegance, but very much for force. He 
knows that his trade will be better pushed by homely remarks and cutting sen- 
tences than by the prosiest prettinesses which were ever delivered ; and he gains 
his end, which is more than those of you will do who talk to people about their 
souls with as much richness of diction as — 

" The girl who at each pretty phrase let drop 
A ruby comma, or pearl full-stop, 
Or an emerald semicolon." 

C. H. Spurgeon. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



IT is presumed that many students and ministers will read this 
book. To such we specially commend the following address, 
delivered by Mr. Spurgeon to his present and former students. 
Because of its intrinsic merits, its stirring appeals, and its sen- 
sible presentation of vital themes, we could not bring our mind 
to consent to an abridgment. It is suitable for all Christian 
workers, nor can it fail to interest the general reader. Reading it 
originally, and again in proof, it has stirred our soul, and breathed 
upon us a benediction. 

I never needed help more than now, and never felt so utterly 
unfitted to give the key-note to the Conference. As you grow 
more numerous, more gifted, and more experienced, I feel more 
and more my unworthiness to stand foremost and lead your 
ranks. However, I will trust in God, and believe that He will, 
by His Holy Spirit, send a word that shall be encouraging and 
quickening. 

Years ago an eccentric judge, known as Judge Foster, went 
upon circuit in extreme old age during a very hot summer, and 
on one of the most sultry days of that summer he addressed the 
grand jury at Worcester in some such terms as these: ''Gentle- 
men of the jury, it is very hot, and I am very old ; you know 
your duties very well; go and do them." Following his example, 
I feel inclined to say to you : " Gentlemen, here you are assem- 
bled. I have many infirmities to bear, and you will have great 
difficulty in bearing with my talk; you know your duties; go and 



176 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

do them." Action is better than speech. If I speak for an hour 
I shall scarcely be able to say anything more practical, — you 
know, your duties, go and do them. " England expects every 
man to do his duty " was the rousing signal of Nelson ; need I 
remind you that our great Lord expects every one of His servants 
to occupy until He comes, and so to be a good and faithful ser- 
vant? Go forth and fulfil your Master's high behest, and may 
God's Spirit work in you the good pleasure of your Lord. 

Those who truly serve God are made to feel more and more 
forcibly that '' Life is real, life is earnest," if it be indeed life in 
Christ. In times of great pain and weakness and depression it 
has come over me to hope that if I should again recover I should 
be more intense than ever; if I could be privileged to climb the 
pulpit stairs again, I resolved to leave out every bit of flourish 
from my sermons, preach nothing but present and pressing truth, 
and hurl it at the people with all my might ; myself living at high 
pressure, and putting forth all the energy that my being is capable 
of. I suppose you, too, have felt like this when you have been 
laid aside. You have said to yourselves : " Playtime is over with 
us, we must get to work. Parade is ended, now comes the tug, of 
war. We must not waste a single moment, but redeem the time, 
because the days are evil." When we see the wonderful activity 
of the servants of Satan, and how much they accomplish, we may 
well be ashamed of ourselves that we do so little for our Redeemer, 
and that the little is often done so badly that it takes as long to set 
it right as we spent in the doing of it. Brethren, let us cease from 
regrets, and come to actual amendment. 

A great German philosopher has asserted that life is all a dream. 
He says that " It is a dream composed of a dream of itself." He 
believes in no actual existence, not even in his own; even t/iat he 
conceives to be but a thought. Surely some in the ministry must 
be disciples of that philosophy, for they are half asleep, and their 
spirit is dreamy. They speak of the eternal truth as though it 
were a temporary system of belief, passing aAvay like all other 
visions of earth. They live for Christ in a manner which would 
never be thought of by a person who meant to make money, or 
to obtain a degree at the university. '* Why," said one of a cer- 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 1/7 

tain minister, '' if I acted with my business as he does in his min- 
istry I should be in the ' Gazette ' within three months." It is an 
unhappy thing that there should be men calling themselves min- 
isters of Christ to whom it never seems to occur that they are 
bound to display the utmost industry and zeal. They seem to 
forget that they are dealing with souls that may be lost for ever 
or saved for ever, — souls that cost the Saviour's heart's blood. 
They do not appear to have understood the nature of their calling, 
or to have grasped the Scriptural idea of an ambassador for Christ. 
Like drowsy wagoners, they hope to get their team safely home, 
though they themselves are sound asleep. I have heard of min- 
isters who are most lively when playing croquet or cricket, or 
getting up an excursion, or making a bargain. It was said of one 
in my hearing, ** What a fine minister he would have been if he 
had only been converted." I heard it said of a very clever man, 
" He would have been a great winner of souls if he had only 
believed in souls ; but he believed in nothing." It is said of the 
Russian peasants, that when they have done their work they will 
lie on the stove, or around it, and there sleep hour after hour; 
and there is a current opinion among them that they are only 
awake when they are asleep, and that their waking and working 
hours are nothing but a horrible dream. The moujik hopes that 
his dreams are facts, and that his waking sufferings are merely 
nightmares. May not some have fallen into the same notion with 
regard to the ministry? They are asleep upon realities, and awake 
about shadows ; in earnest about trifles, yet trifling about solem- 
nities. What God will have to say to those servants who do their 
own work well and His work badly I will not attempt to fore- 
shadow. What shall be done to the man who displayed great 
capacity in his recreations, but was dull in his devotions? active 
out of his calling, and languid in it? The day shall declare it. 
Let us arouse ourselves to the sternest fidelity, laboring to win 
souls as much as if it all depended wholly upon ourselves, while 
we fall back in faith upon the glorious fact that everything rests 
with the eternal God. 

I see before me many who are fully aroused, and are eager in 
seeking the lost; for I speak to some of the most earnest spirits 



178 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

in the Christian Church, — evangelists and pastors whose meat 
and drink it is to do the will of their Lord. But even these, who 
are most awake, will not differ from me when I assert that they 
could be yet more aroused. My brethren, when you have. been 
at your best you might have been better. Who among us might 
not have had greater success if he had been ready to obtain it? 
When Nelson served under Admiral Hotham, and a certain num- 
ber of the enemy's ships had been captured, the commander said : 
** We must be contented ; we have done very well." But Nelson did 
not think so, since a number of the enemy's vessels had escaped. 
" Now," said he, " had we taken ten sail, and allowed the eleventh 
to escape when it had been possible to have got at her, I could 
never have called it well doiieT If we have brought many to 
Christ we dare not boast, for we are humbled by the reflection 
that more might have been done had we been fitter instruments 
for God. Possibly some brother will say, '' I have done all that 
I could do." That may be his honest opinion, for he could not 
have preached more frequently, or held more meetings. Perhaps 
it is true that he has held enough meetings, and the people 
have had quite enough sermons ; but there might have been an 
improvement in the spirit of the meetings, and in the sermons 
too. Some ministers might do more in reality if they did less in 
appearance. A Bristol Quaker — and Quakers are very shrewd 
men — years ago stepped into an alehouse and called for a quart 
of beer. The beer frothed up, and the measure was not well 
filled. The Friend said to the landlord, *' How much trade art 
thou doing?" '' Oh," he answered, *' I draw ten butts of beer a 
month." ''Do thee know how thee might draw eleven butts?" 
"No, sir; I wish I did." ''I will tell thee, friend; thee can do 
it by filling thy pots." To any brother who says, ** I do not know 
how I can preach more gospel than I do, for I preach very often," 
I would reply, " You need not preach oftener, but fill the sermons 
fuller of gospel." The Saviour at the marriage-feast said : " Fill 
the water-pots wnth water." Let us imitate the servants, of whom 
we read, " They filled them up to the brim." Let your discourses 
be full of matter, sound, gracious, and condensed. Certain speakers 
suffer from an awful flux of words ; you can scarcely spy out the 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 1/9 

poor little straw of an idea which has t>een hurried down an awful 
Ganges or Amazon of words. Give the people plenty of thought, 
plenty of Scriptural, solid doctrine, and deliver it in a way which 
is growingly better, — every day better, every year better, that 
God may be more glorified, and sinners may more readily learn 
the way of salvation. 

I shall now commend to you for the perfecting of your min- 
istry five things, which should be in you and abound. You 
remember the passage which says, " Salt, without prescribing how 
much." There is no need for limiting the quantity of any of the 
matters now commended to you. Here, they are, — ligJit, fire, 
faith, life, love. Their number is five, you may count them on 
your fingers ; their value is inestimable, grasp them with firm 
hand, and let them be carried in your hearts. 

I commend to you most earnestly the acquisition and distribu- 
tion of light. To that end we must first get the light. Get light 
even of the commonest order, for all light is good. Education 
upon ordinary things is valuable, and I would §tir up certain 
loitering brethren to make advances in that direction. Many 
among you entered the College with no education whatever; but 
when you left it you had learned enough to have formed the 
resolution to study with all your might, and you have carried it 
out. I wish that all had done so. It is a great advantage to a 
minister to commence his public life in a small village where he 
can have time and quiet for steady reading: that man is wise who 
avails himself of the golden opportunity. We ought not only to 
think of what we can now do for God, but of what we may yet 
be able to do if we improve ourselves. No man should ever 
dream that his education is complete. I know that my friend Mr. 
Rogers, though he has passed his eightieth year, is still a student, 
and perhaps has more of the true student spirit about him now 
than ever: will any of the younger sort sit down in self-content? 
We shall continue to learn even in heaven, and shall still be 
looking deeper and deeper into the abyss of divine love : it were 
ill to talk of perfect knowledge here below. If a man says: "I 
am fully equipped for my work, and need learn no more ; I have 
moved here after having been three years in the last place, and 



l80 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

I have quite a stock of sermons, so that I am under no necessity 
to read any more," I would say to him : " My dear friend, the 
Lord give you brains, for you talk like one who is deficient in that 
department." A brain is a very hungry thing indeed, and he who 
possesses it must constantly feed it by reading and thinking, or 
it will shrivel up or fall asleep. It is the child of the horse-leech, 
and it crieth evermore, " Give, give." Do not starve it. If such 
mind-hunger never happens to you, I suspect you have no mind 
of any consequence. 

But, brethren, see to it that you have in a sevenfold degree light 
of a higher kind. You are to be, above all things, students of the 
Word of God : this, indeed, is a main point of your avocation. 
If we do not study Scripture, and those books that will help us 
to understand theology, we are but wasting time while we pursue 
other researches. We should judge him to be a foolish fellow 
who, while preparing to be a physician, spent all his time in 
studying astronomy. There is a connection of some kind between 
stars and human bones ; but a man could not learn much of 
surgery from Arcturus or Orion. So there is a connection 
between every science and religion, and I would advise you to 
obtain much general knowledge; but universal information will 
be a poor substitute for a special and prayerful study of the 
Scriptures, and of the doctrines contained in the revelation of 
God. We are to study men and our own hearts; we ought to sit 
as disciples in the schools of providence and experience. Some 
ministers grow fast because the great Teacher chastens them 
sorely, and the chastening is sanctified ; but others learn nothing 
by their experience, they blunder out of one ditch into another, 
and learn nothing by their difficulties but the art of creating fresh 
ones. I suggest to you all the prayer of a Puritan who during 
a debate was observed to be absorbed in writing. His friends 
thought he was taking notes of his opponent's speech, but when 
they got hold of his paper, they found nothing but these words, 
*' More light. Lord ! More light, Lord ! " Oh, for more light 
from the great Father of lights ! 

Let not this light be only that of knowledge, but seek for the 
light of joy and cheerfulness. There is power in a happy ministry. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. l8l 

A lugubrious face, a mournful voice, a languor of manner, — none 
of these commend us to our hearers ; especially do they fail to 
attract the young. Certain strange minds find their happiness in 
misery, but they are not numerous. I once had a letter from one 
who told me that he came to the Tabernacle, but as soon as he 
entered he felt it could not be the house of God because there 
were so many present, and " Strait is the gate and narrow is the 
way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." When 
he looked at me he felt sure that I was unsound, for I should 
not look so cheerful in the face, neither should I be so bulky in 
person, if I belonged to the tried people of God. Worst of all, 
when he looked round upon the congregation and saw their happy 
countenances, he said to himself: These people know nothing about 
the depravity of their hearts or the inward struggles of believers. 
Then he informed me that he wended his way to a very small 
chapel, where he saw a minister who looked as if he had been in 
the furnace, and though there were but eight persons present, 
they all looked so depressed that he felt quite at home. I sup- 
pose he sat down and sang : — 

** My willing soul would stay 
In such a frame as this, 
And sit and sing herself away 
From everything like bliss." 

I felt glad that the good man was enabled to enjoy a little 
comfortable misery with his brethren. I did not feel at all 
envious ; nor do I think that such a ministry of misery will ever 
draw to itself a number that no man can number. The children 
of light prefer the joy of the Lord, for they find it to be their 
strength. 

Get plenty of light, brethren, and 7u/ie7i yoiL have obtained it 
give it out. Never fall into the notion that mere earnestness will 
suffice without knowledge, and that souls are to be saved simply 
by our being zealous. I fear that we are more deficient in heat 
than in light; but at the same time, that kind of fire which has 
no light in it is of a very doubtful nature, and cometh not from 
above. Souls are saved by truth which enters the understanding, 



1 82 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

and so reaches the conscience. How can the gospel save when 
it is not understood? The preacher may preach with a great deal 
of stamping, and hammering, and crying, and entreating; but 
the Lord is not in the wind, nor in the fire : the still small voice 
of truth is needed to enter the understanding, and thereby reach 
the heart. People must be taught. We must ** go and teach all 
nations," making disciples of them; and I know of no- way in 
which you can save men without teaching on your part and dis- 
cipleship on theirs. Some preachers, though they know a great 
deal, do not teach much, because they use such an involved style. 
Recollect that you are addressing people who need to be taught 
like children ; for though they are grown up, the major part of 
our hearers, as to the things of God, are still in a state of .child- 
hood ; and if they are to receive the truth it must be made very 
plain, and packed up so as to be carried away and laid up in the 
memory. Therefore, brethren, give forth much holy instruction. 

Some give little instruction because of their involved style; but 
many fail for other reasons, — mainly because they aim at some- 
thing else. Talleyrand defines a metaphysician as a man who is 
very clever in drawing black lines upon a black ground. I should 
like to draw black lines upon a white ground, or else white lines 
on a black ground, so that they could be seen ; but certain 
preachers are so profound that no one understands them. On the 
other hand, have you not heard sermons with great oratorical 
display about them, and nothing more? You have looked on 
while the angel wrought wondrously. The preacher has been like 
Blondin on the tight-rope, and as we have looked at him we have 
trembled lest he should never reach the end of his lofty period. 
Yet he has balanced himself admirably, and moved along in his 
elevated position in a marvellous manner. When all is over your 
mind is unsatisfied; for these acrobatic feats of rhetoric do not 
feast the soul. Brethren, we must not make it our aim to be 
grand orators. Certain men are eloquent by nature, and it is not 
possible for them to be otherwise than oratorical, any more than 
for nightingales to help singing sweetly: these I do not blame, 
but admire. It is not the duty of the nightingale to bring 
down its voice to the same tone as that of the sparrow. Let 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. 1 83 

it sing sweetly if it can do so naturally. God deserves the best 
oratory, the best logic, the best metaphysics, the best of every- 
thing; but if ever rhetoric stands in the way of the instruction 
of the people, a curse on rhetoric; if any educational attainment 
or natural gift which we possess should make it less easy for the 
people to understand us, let it perish. May God rend away from 
our thought and style everything which darkens the light, even 
though it should be like a costly veil of rarest lace. May we 
use great plainness of speech, that gospel light may shine out 
clearly. 

At this time there is a great necessity for giving much light, for 
a fierce attempt is being made to quench or dim the light. Many 
are scattering darkness on all sides. Therefore, brethren, keep the 
light burning in your churches, keep the light burning in your 
pulpits, and hold it forth in the face of men who love darkness 
because it favors their aims. Teach the people all truth, and let 
not our distinctive opinions be concealed. There are sheep- 
stealers about, who come forth in the night, and run away with 
our people because they do not know oar principles, — the prin- 
ciples of Nonconformists, the principles of Baptists, or even the 
principles of Christianity. Our hearers have got a general idea 
of these things, but not enough to protect them from deceivers. 
We are beset not only by sceptics, but by certain brethren who 
devour the feeble. Do not leave your children to wander out 
without the guardianship of holy knowledge, for there are seducers 
abroad who will mislead them if they can. They will begin by 
calling them *'dear" this, and *'dear" that, and end by alienating 
them, from those who brought them to Jesus. If you lose your 
members, let it be in the light of day, and not through their igno- 
rance. These kidnappers dazzle weak eyes with flashes of novelty, 
and turn weak heads with wonderful discoveries and marvellous 
doctrines, which all tend towards division and bitterness, and the 
exaltation of their own sect. Keep the light of truth burning, and 
thieves will not dare to plunder your house. 

Oh, for a church of believers in Jesus who know why they believe 
in Him ; persons who believe the Bible, and know what it contains; 
who believe the doctrines of grace, and know the bearings of those 



1 84 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

truths ; who know where they are and what they are, and who 
therefore dwell in the light, and cannot be deceived by the prince 
of darkness. Do, dear friends, — I speak specially to the younger 
sort among us, — do let there be plenty of teaching in your min- 
istry. . I fear that sermons are too often judged by their words 
rather than by their sense. Let it not be so with you. Feed the 
people always with knowledge and understanding, and let your 
preaching be solid, containing food for the hungry, healing for 
the sick, and light for those who sit in darkness. 

I have now, in the second place, to plead with you that you 
gather and use in your ministry much heavenly FIRE. Upon 
this subject you will perhaps expect me to speak guardedly; 
for you have seen the mischief of wild fire, and the perils of 
strange fire, and perhaps you are anxious to know what I think 
of a certain **army" which abounds in fire, and blazes away most 
marvellously. I shall express no opinion, except 'that none of 
the supposed evils of fire are equal to those of lukewarmness. 
Even fanaticism is to be preferred to indifference. I had sooner 
risk the dangers of a tornado of religious excitement than see the 
air grow stagnant with a dead formality. It is far better for people 
to be too hot than to be lukewarm. " I would thou wert cold or 
hot " is Christ's word still, and it applies to preachers as well as to 
others. When a man is freezingly cold in the things of Christ we 
know where he is ; and if another is red-hot, or even at a white 
heat, and is thought to be too enthusiastic, we know where he is ; 
but when a minister preaches in such a way that at the close of 
his sermon you say, ** this is neither cold nor hot," you go away 
feeling that you have had enough, or even too much of it. There 
was nothing to excite you ; you ccTuld almost wish to have been 
made angry rather than to have been lulled by such discoursing. 
A lukewarm sermon sickens every healthy mind. 

Nor is this evil to be found in the pulpit alone. I should 
gravely question whether if an angel were to take a thermometer 
and go round the dissenting churches in London he would not 
find a large proportion of them certainly not cold, most decidedly 
not hot, but somewhere else. How is it with you, dear brother? 
Do you say: "Well, I am not the warmest of all, but then I am 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 188I. 1 85 

not the coldest of all"? Then I have a suspicion as to your 
temperature; but I leave the matter to your own judgment, only 
remarking that I have never yet met with fire that is moderately 
hot. Should any of you discover such an article you will be wise 
to patent the article, for it might be of service in many ways. 
The fire . with which I have been acquainted has been such that 
I have never given it my hand without remembering its warm em- 
brace. Fire is incorrigible in the matter of carrying matters very 
far: moderation it will never learn. I am told that it is wrong to 
go to extremes, and upon that ground fire is certainly guilty ; for 
it is not only intensely hot, but it has a tendency to consume and 
destroy without limit. When it once commenced with this city in 
theolden time it left little of it but ashes; there is no keeping it 
within bounds. May God grant us grace to go to extremes in His 
service ! May we be filled with an unrestrainable zeal for His 
glory! May the Lord answer us by fire, and may that fire fall 
on the ministers and then upon the people ! We ask for the true 
Pentecostal flame, and not for sparks kindled by human passion. 
A live coal from off" the altar is our need, -and nothing can supply 
its place ; but this we must have, or our ministry will be in vain. 

Brethren, we must first of all take care that we have the ^re buim- 
ing ill our own souls. I am happy to know that there are very few, 
if any, among you that are utterly cold ; for you go to be warmed 
into earnestness if we set about it aright. It is very hard to warm 
a stone. You may clothe a man in blankets until he is fairly warm, 
because there is life in him, but you cannot heat a stone in that 
fashion ; life always begets a measure of warmth and the possi- 
bility of more, and as you have life there are capacities for heat. 
Some preachers are of such a cold nature that no known means 
could warm them. The attempt to find heat in some sermons 
reminds me of ^sop's fable of the apes and the glowworm. The 
apes found a glowworm shining on the bank, and straightway gath- 
ered round it to warm themselves. They placed sticks over it, and 
tried to make a fire, but it did not burn. It was a very pretty thing, 
and looked like flam.e, but they could not warm their cold hands 
with its cold light. So have I known ministers, whose light was 
destitute of heat, and consequently the poor sticks around them 



1 86 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

have never kindled into a flame, nor have frozen hearts been 
melted by their influence. It is dreadful work to listen to a ser- 
mon, and feel all the while as if you were sitting out in a snow- 
storm, or dwelling in a house of ice, clear but cold, orderly, but 
killing. You have said to yourself: "That was a well-divided and 
well-planned sermon, but I cannot make out what was the matter 
with it; " the secret being that there was the wood, but no fire to 
kindle it. A great sermon without heart in it reminds one of those 
huge furnaces in Wales which have been permitted to go out; they 
are a pitiful sight. We prefer a sermon in which there may be no 
vast talent and no great depth of thought, but what there is has 
come fresh from the crucible, and like molten metal burns its way. 
I once knew a lad who when he used to go home from the smithy 
where he worked was roughly handled by the boys of the village, 
till his master suggested to him a plan of defence which was won- 
derfully efficacious. He took a rod of iron, and just before he 
went home he blew up the fire and made the iron hot. When the 
boys came round him he warned them not to touch his stick, and 
after one trial of the same they obeyed the admonition, and rever- 
ently kept their distance. I do not quote the example with any 
commendation of the actual fact, but with this moral in view — 
heat your sermon red-hot, and it will be likely to be remembered 
by all who come into contact with it. Everything gives way before 
fire. 

Energy still remains an essential, whatever else in oratory may 
have changed since the days of old. It is said that the oft-quoted 
reply of Demosthenes to the question, *' What is the first thing in 
oratory?" was not "action," but "energy." What is the second 
thing? "Energy." What is the third thing? "Energy." I will 
not pretend to decide the classical question ; but I am sure that 
as a matter of fact energy is the main thing in the human side of 
preaching. Like the priests at the altar, we can do nothing with- 
out fire. Brethren, speak because you believe the gospel of Jesus; 
speak because you feel its power; speak under the influence of 
the truth which you are delivering ; speak with the Holy Ghost 
sent down from heaven, and the result will not be doubtful. 

Let it be carefully remembered that our flame must be kindled 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. 1 8/ 

from on high. Nothing is more to be despised than a mere 
painted fire, the simulation of earnestness. Sooner let us have 
an honest death than a counterfeit life. The imitation of Baxter 
is detestable ; but to be like Baxter is seraphic. If you would be 
like Whitfield,' I would say <5^ Whitfield. Let the fire be kindled 
by the Holy Ghost, and not by animal passion, the desire of honor, 
emulation of others, or the excitement of attending meetings. Let 
the terrible example of Nadab and Abihu for ever put away 
strange fire from our censers. Burn because you have been in 
solemn fellowship with the Lord our God. 

Recollect also that the fire which you and I need will consitme 
us if we truly possess it. " Spare yourself," may be whispered 
by friends; but it will not be heeded when this fire is burning. 
We have given ourselves up to the work of God, and we cannot 
go back. We desire to be whole burnt-offerings and complete 
sacrifices to God, and we dare not shun the altar. " Except a 
corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone ; but 
if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." We can only produce life 
in others by the wear and tear of our own being. This is a nat- 
ural and spiritual law, that fruit can only come of the seed by its 
spending and being spent even to self-exhaustion. Why are many 
ministers worn and weary till heart and brain give way? They 
would be of little use if they did not run such a risk. All men 
who are eminently useful are made to feel their weakness in a 
supreme degree. Can the Spirit of God, even the Infinite Deity, 
ride in such frail chariots as these, without straining the axle and 
making the whole machine to quiver, as if it would be utterly 
dissolved beneath its sacred burden? When God visits us with 
soul-saving power, it is as though devouring flame came forth 
from heaven and made its abode in our bosoms ; and where this 
is the case there may well be a melting away of all strength. Yet 
let it be so: we humbly invite the sacred burnings. Herod was 
eaten of worms, being' cursed of God ; but to be consumed by 
God for His own service is to be blessed to the full. We have a 
choice between these two, to be eaten up by our corruptions, or 
by the zeal of God's house. It needs no hesitation ; the choice 
of every man among us is to be wholly the Lord's, — ardently, 



1 88 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

passionately, vehemently the Lord's servants, let the divine fervor 
cost" us what it may of brain and heart and life. Our only hope 
of honor and glory and immortality lies in the fulfilment of our 
dedication unto God; as devoted things we must be consumed 
with fire, or rejected. For us to turn aside from our life-work, 
and to seek distinction elsewhere, is absolute folly; a blight will 
be upon us ; we shall not succeed in anything but the pursuit of 
God's glory through the teaching of the Word. *' This people 
have I formed for myself," saith God ; *' they shall show forth my 
praise ; " and if we will not do this we shall do less than nothing. 
For this one thing we are created, and if we miss this we shall 
live in vain. Good Dr. Wayland, the other day, walking in my 
garden, saw the swans out of the water, and he remarked that 
they were the true representation of persons who are out of their 
proper sphere, and attempt to do what they were never made for. 
How ungainly the swans are on land ; they waddle in a ridiculous 
manner; but as soon as they are in the water, how gracefully they 
glide along; each one is the model of a ship, the image of beauty; 
every line about it is perfect. So is it with a man who is content 
to find in the ministry waters to swim in. As God's sent servant 
he is everything that is beautiful ; but as soon as he dabbles in 
trade, or becomes a secular lecturer, or seeks his own aggrandize- 
ment, he ceases to be admirable, he often becomes notorious, and 
is always awkward. Brethren, you are not meant for anything but 
God ; therefore surrender yourselves to God, and find in Him 
your wealth, your honor, and your all. If you do this you shall 
be the head and not the tail ; but if you start aside you shall be 
lightly esteemed. Let the fire of perfect consecration be heaped 
upon you, for so shall you glow and shine like molten silver, which 
brightens amid the heat. Let .us not subject ourselves to the shame 
and eternal contempt which will be the portion of those who quit 
the service of their Redeemer for the bondage of self-seeking. 
He that saveth his life loseth it; but he that loseth his hfe for 
Christ's sake shall find it unto life eternal. 



XV. 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

(CONTINUED.) 



Dr. Marigold is sharp and shrewd because self-interest makes him so ; 
and his extemporary observations are so patly uttered and adroitly arranged 
that he wins the attention of all and the custom of many. Would to God that 
preachers and other workers for God had a tithe as much common sense as 
cheap-jack, and were half as earnest to bring men to Jesus Christ as cheap-jack 
is to bring them to buy that tea-tray and set of real china ! Oh, that we were 
as wise to win the ear and heart of the particular case with which we have to 
deal, as he is in extorting a laugh and compelling the attention of the passer-by! 
— C. H. Spurgeon. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

(CONTINUED.) 



THE next thing necessary to us is FAITH ; I might say the 
first, second, third, and last thing is FAITH. " Without faith 
it is impossible to please God," and if we are pleasing God it is 
not by our talent but by our faith. Just now we much need faith 
in the form of fixity of belief. We know more than we did some 
time ago; at least I hope we do. I just now heard one of you say 
to another: ** How broad you get! " Well, we do widen out; but 
not as some men, for we are not of the broad school who believe 
little or nothing aright because they desire to believe everything. 
We have cast our anchor; it has taken a firm grip; we have 
ceased to drift; we remain at rest. Some men have no creed; 
or, if they have, it is altered so often that it is of no use to them. 
It must be like the blanket of a gentleman who came from the 
Emerald Isle, of which he said : *' See here ! Our skipper has 
given me a shamefully bad blanket. Just look at it: it is too long 
at the top and it is too short at the bottom ; it gets over my head, 
and yet my feet are always cold. I cut a whole foot off the top, 
and I sewed it on to the bottom, but it is not altered a bit; it 
still comes over my eyes, and is too short to cover my feet." 
That is what certain " thinkers " do with their creed, they keep 
cutting it off at one end, and putting it on at the other; but it 
never gets right, — it is always forming, never formed. Modern 
creeds are like the clothes of Italian peasants, which I have gazed 
upon with wondering inquiry. It would puzzle the most learned 



192 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

geologist to discover the primary formation of a pair of trousers 
which have been patched and mended with cloth of all patterns 
and colors from generation to generation. Such and so varied are 
some men's beliefs and unbeliefs ; an agglomeration of philosophic 
rags, metaphysical tatters, theological remnants, and heretical cast- 
offs. Certain thinkers have reached the blessed ultimatum of be- 
lieving nothing at all with anything like certainty of belief. When 
these cultivated persons speak of us they manifest great scorn, 
and affect to believe that we are natural fools. Ah, dear ! People 
are not always what they are thought to be, and it may happen 
that a man sees himself as in a glass when he thinks he is look- 
ing out of window at a neighbor. It is a sign of great weakness 
when persons are full of contempt for others. If in any Yeview 
or pamphlet a writer parades his culture, you may be sure that 
he has been lying fallow of late, and his affectations are the weeds 
which have come of it. If it came to a fair contest upon the 
matter of education and culture, the orthodox would be quite 
able to hold their own. Boasting is sorry work ; but sometimes 
persons must be answered according to their folly, and I say 
boldly that in any sort of mental tournament we should not trem- 
ble to tilt with the men of " modern thought." Be it so or not, it 
is ours to believe. We believe that when the Lord our God gave 
forth a revelation He knew His own mind, and that He expressed 
Himself in the best and wisest manner, and in terms that can be 
understood by those w^ho are teachable and truthful. We there- 
fore believe that no new revelation is needed, and that the idea 
of other light to come is practically unbelief in the light which 
now is, seeing the light of truth is one. We believe that though 
the Bible has been twisted and turned about by sacrilegious hands, 
it is still the infallible revelation of God. It is a main part of our 
religion humbly to accept what God has revealed. Perhaps the 
highest form of adoration possible on this side the veil is the bow- 
ing of our entire mental and spiritual being before the revealed 
mind of God ; the kneeling of the understanding in that sacred 
Presence whose glory causes angels to veil their faces. Let those 
who please worship science, reason, and their own clear judg- 
ments ; it is ours to submit ourselves before the Lord our God, 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. 193 

and say: *' This God is our God for ever and ever: He shall be 
our guide even unto death." 

Brethren, rally to the old standard. Fight to the death for the 
old gospel, for it is your life. Whatever forms of expression you 
may use as you advance in knowledge, ever keep the cross of 
Jesus Christ in the forefront, and let all the blessed truths which 
gather around it be heartily maintained. 

We must have faith not only in the form of fixity of creed, 
but also in, the shape of constant dependence npon God. If I 
were asked what is the sweetest frame within the whole compass 
of human feeling, I should not speak of a sense of power in 
prayer, or abundant revelation, or rapturous joys, or conquest of 
evil spirits ; but I should mention as the most exquisite delight 
of my being, a condition of conscious dependence upon God. It 
has been often associated with great pain and humiliation of spirit, 
but it is inexpressibly delightful to lie passive in the hand of love, 
to die into the life of Christ. It is deep joy to feel that you do 
not know, but your Heavenly Father knows; that you cannot 
speak, but *' we have an Advocate " ; that you can scarcely lift a 
hand, but that He worketh all your works in you. The entire 
submission of our soul to our Lord, the full content of the heart 
with God's will and way, the sure reliance of the mind upon the 
heavenly presence and power, — this is the nearest approach to 
heaven that I know; and it is better than rapture, for one can 
abide in it without strain or reaction. 

" Oh, to be nothing, nothing; 
Only to lie at His feet." 

It is not so sublime a feehng as soaring aloft on the wings of 
eagles; but for sweetness — deep, mysterious, indescribable — it 
bears the palm. It is a blessedness which can bear to be thought 
of, a joy which never seems to be a stolen one ; for surely a 
poor, frail child has an unquestioned right to depend upon God, 
a right to be nothing in the presence of the All-supporting One. 
I love to preach in such a mood, not as though /was about to 
preach at all, but hoping that the Holy Spirit would speak in me. 
Thus to conduct prayer-meetings, and church-meetings, and all 

13 



194 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

sorts of business will be found to be our wisdom and our joy. We 
generally make our worst blunders about things that are perfectly 
easy, when the thing is so plain that we do not ask God to guide 
us, because we think our own common sense will be sufficient, 
and so we commit grave errors ; but in the difficulties, the extreme 
difficulties which we take before God, He gives young men pru- 
dence, and teaches youths knowledge and discretion. Dependence 
upon God is the flowing fountain of success. That true saint of 
God, George Miiller, has always struck me when I have heard 
him speak as being such a simple, childlike being in his depen- 
dence upon God. But, alas ! the most of us are far too great for 
God to use us ; we can preach as well as anybody, make a sermon 
with anybody — and so we fail. Take care, brethren ; fop if we 
think we can do anything of ourselves, all we shall get frofn God 
will be the opportunity to try. He will thus prove us, and let us 
see our nothingness. A certain alchemist who waited upon Leo 
X. declared that he had discovered how to transmute the baser 
metals into gold. He expected to receive a sum of money for 
his discovery, but Leo was no such simpleton ; he merely gave 
him a huge purse in which to keep the gold which he would 
make. There was wisdom as well as sarcasm in the present. 
That is precisely what God does with proud men : He lets them 
have the opportunity to do what they boasted of being able to do. 
I never heard that so much as a solitary gold piece was dropped 
into Leo's purse, and I am sure yoii will never be spiritually rich 
by what you can do in your own strength. Be stripped, brother, 
and then God may be pleased to clothe you with honor, but not 
till then. 

It is essential that we should exhibit faith in the form of confi- 
dence in God. Brothers, it would-be a great calamity if it could 
be said of any one of you : " He had an excellent moral character 
and remarkable gifts ; but he did not trust God." Faith is a chief 
necessary. '' Above all, taking the shield of faith " was the apos- 
tolic injunction. Alas ! some men go to the fight, but leave their 
shield at home. It would be dreadful to think of a sermon as all 
a sermon ought to be in every respect except that the preacher 
did not trust in the Holy Spirit to bless it to the conversion of 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. 1 95 

souls; such a discourse is vain. No sermon is what it ought to 
be if faith be absent : as well say that a body is in health when 
life is extinct. It is admirable to see a man humbly conscious of 
weakness, and yet bravely confident in the Lord's power to work 
through his infirmity. We may glory at large when God is our 
glory. Attempting great things, we shall not overdo ourselves in 
the attempt; and expecting great things, we shall not be disap- 
pointed in our expectation. Nelson was asked whether a certain 
movement of his ships was not perilous, and he replied, " Perilous 
it may be, but in naval affairs nothing is impossible, and nothing 
is improbable." I make bold to assert that in the service of God 
nothing is impossible and nothing is improbable. Go on, in the 
name of God ; risk everything on His promise, and according to 
your faith shall it be done unto you. 

The common policy of our churches is that of great prudence. 
We do not, as a rule, attempt anything beyond our strength. We 
measure means and calculate possibilities with economical accu- 
racy ; then we strike off a large discount for contingencies, and a 
still larger as provision for our ease, and so we accomplish little 
because we have no idea of doing much. I would to God we had 
more ** pluck." I know of no fitter word : though the word may 
better suit the camp than the church, we will for once borrow 
from the barracks. Bear in mind that there is nothing like 
courage, even in ordinary things. Sir Richard Sutton, when he 
was ambassador to Prussia, was taken by Frederick the Great to 
see his regiment of giants, every one of whom stood six feet six 
in his shoes. The king said to him, " Do you think any regiment 
in the English army could fight my men, man for man?" Sir 
Richard answered, " Please your majesty, I do not know whether 
the same number could- beat your giants, but I know that half the 
number would try at it." Let us attempt great things, for those 
who believe in the name of the Lord succeed beyond all expecta- 
tion. By faith the worker lives. The right noble Earl of Shaftes- 
bury said the other afternoon of Ragged-school teachers and their 
work, — •' It was evident to all thinking persons that we had a 
great danger in the ignorance of the children of the lower classes, 
and so the senators began to think of it, and the philosophers 



196 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

began to think of it, and good men of all sorts began to think of 
it; but while they were all engaged in thinking, a few plain, 
humble people opened Ragged Schools, and did it!' This is the 
kind of faith of which we need more and more : we need so to trust 
in God as to put our hand to the plough in His name. It is idle 
to spend time in making and altering plans, and doing nothing 
else ; the best plan for doing God's work is to do it. Brothers, 
if you do not believe in anybody else, believe in God without 
stint. Believe up to the hilt. Bury yourselves, both as to your 
weakness and your strength, in simple trust in God. *' Oh," said 
one, '' as to that man, there is no telling what mad thing he will 
start next ! " Let the sneer pass, though it may be as well to say : 
" I am not mad, most noble Festus ; but carry out works of truth 
and soberness." The end of all things will show that faith in God 
is sanctified common sense, without an atom of folly in it. To 
believe God's Word is the most reasonable thing we can do, it is 
the plainest course that we can take, and the safest policy that we 
can adopt, even as to taking care of ourselves ; for Jesus says, 
'' Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall 
lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it" 
Let us stake all upon the faithfulness of God, and we shall never 
be ashamed or confounded, world without end. 

You must also have faith in God in the form of expectancy. 
Our brethren Smith and FuUerton would not have a blessing on 
their work if they did not expect the blessing to come; but 
expecting the blessing, they provide an inquiry-room, and persons 
to look after the converts. Shall we commence farming and pro- 
vide no barn? In many a village the Lord has saved souls under 
the preaching of the gospel, but the minister has never said, " I 
shall be in the vestry on such and such an evening to see inquir- 
ers ; " or " I shall stop after the sermon to talk with the anxious." 
He has never given the people a chance of telling what the Lord 
has done for them, and if he should hear that a dozen people have 
been convinced of sin, he would be surprised, and fear that they 
were hypocrites. We have not so learned Christ. We look to 
take fish in our nets, and to reap harvests in our fields. Is it so 
with you, my brethren? Let it be more so. ''Open thy mouth 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. I97 

wide," saith the Lord, " and I will fill it." So pray and so preach 
that if there are no conversions you will be astonished, amazed, and 
broken-hearted. Look for the salvation of your hearers as much 
as the angel who Avill sound the last trump will look for the waking 
of the dead. Believe your own doctrine ! Believe your own 
Saviour ! Believe in the Holy Ghost who dwells in you ! For 
thus shall you see your hearts' desire, and God shall be glorified. 

It is time to talk of 'the fourth thing, namely, LIFE. The 
preacher must have life ; he must have /z/e m Jnmself. Are you 
all alive, my brother? Of course you have been quickened as a 
plain believer; but as a minister are you altogether alive? If 
there is a bone in a man's body which is not alive, it becomes the 
nidus of disease ; for instance, a decayed tooth may cause more 
serious injury than most people imagine. In a living system a 
dead portion is out of place, and is sure sooner or later to create 
intense pain. It is a wise arrangement that it should be so, for 
decay has a tendency to spread, and mischief might be caused 
imperceptibly if pain did not sound the alarm-bell. I hope that 
any part of our soul which is not truly alive may pain us till the 
evil is removed. 

Some brethren never seem to be thoroughly alive. Their heads 
are alive, they are intelligent and studious ; but, alas ! their hearts 
are inactive, cold, lethargic. Many preachers never spy out 
opportunities, for death seems to have sealed up their eyes, and 
their tongue also is not half quickened, so that they mumble and 
stumble, and all around them sleep rules the hour. I have been 
told that if certain preachers would only for once stamp a foot, 
or lift a handkerchief, or do anything out of their regular way, it 
would be a relief to their people. I hope none of you have 
become quite so mechanical; but I know that some are heavy 
and yet not weighty, solemn and yet not impressive. My brother, 
I want you to be alive from the sole of your foot to the crown of 
your head, — alive in brain and heart, in tongue and hand, in eye 
and ear. The living God should be served by living men. 

Labor to be alive in all your duties. John Bradford, the martyr, 
used to say, *' I never go away from any part of the service of 
God till I feel thoroughly alive in it, and know that the Lord is 



198 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

with me in it." Carry out this rule conscientiously. In confessing 
sin, go on confessing till you feel that your tears have washed the 
Saviour's feet. In seeking pardon, continue to seek till the Holy 
Spirit bears witness to your peace with God. In preparing a 
sermon, wait upon the Lord until you have communion with 
Christ in it, until the Holy Spirit causes you to feel the power of 
the truth which you are to deliver. " Son of man, eat this roll." 
Before you attempt to give out the word to others, get it into 
yourself. Is there not too much dead praying, and dead preach- 
ing, and dead church work of all sorts? Do you not know 
churches which are like the ghostly ship in the legend, the 
captain, the mate, and all the crew are dead men? 

" The mariners all do wodc the ropes 
As they 've been wont to do ; 
They raise their hmbs like lifeless tools — 
They are a gliastly crew. 

" The body of my deacon's self 
Stands by me knee to knee ; 
The body and I pull at one rope, 
But nothing of life have we." 

This is a grim business, but I have beheld such a sight, though 
never have I seen a ghost. I recollect being years ago in a 
church which was almost defunct externally, and altogether de- 
funct internally, and after sermon, during which I felt a terrible 
chill of soul, I went into the vestry, and there I saw two important 
persons leaning heavily against the fire-place. I said to them, 
*' Are you the deacons of the church?" They answered, "Yes, 
sir." I replied, "I thought so!" I did not explain further. 
These pillars of the church evidently needed propping up. Slug- 
gish ease will not do ! Brethren, we must have life more abun- 
dantly, each one of us, and it must flow out into all the duties of 
our office : warm spiritual life must be manifest in the prayer, in 
the singing, in the preaching, and even in the shake of the hand 
and the good word after service, I delight in these conferences 
because they are living assemblies ; the room does not feel like a 
vault, nor do you salute each other like a set of living skeletons 
without hearts, or a company of respectable mandarins fresh from 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. 1 99 

the tea-shops, who nod and bow mechanically. I cannot endure 
meetings where the only exhibition of life is seen in heated 
discussions over points of order, amendments, and movings of 
the previous question. One marvels at the little things over 
which an assembly will waste hours of precious time, contending 
as if the destiny of the whole world and the fate of the starry 
heavens depended upon the debate. How the mountain heaves, 
but how small a mouse is born ! Brethren, may you be alive, and 
keep alive, and disseminate your life. We read in Plato that the 
Egyptian priests said concerning the Greeks, ** You Greeks are 
always youths, there is not an old man among you." Neither, 
sirs, is there an old man among us at this hour; we are full of 
youth even unto this day, and if you want to see one whose vigor 
and cheerfulness prove that his gray hairs are all external, there 
sits the man [pointing to Mr. George Rogers], It is a grand 
thing to be perpetually renewing your youth, never getting into 
the ruts, but making new tracks with your glowing wheels. Those 
who are old when they are youhg, are likely to be young when 
they are old. I like to see the liveliness of the child associated 
with the gravity of the father ; but especially do I rejoice to see a 
godly man keep up the vivacity, t;he joy, the earnestness of his 
first love. It is a crime to permit our fires to burn low while 
experience yields us more and more abundant fuel. Be it ours to 
go from strength to strength, from life to more abundant life. 

Be full of life at all times, and let that life be seen in your ordi- 
nary conversation. It is a shocking state of things when good 
people say, " Our minister undoes in the parlor what he has done 
in the pulpit; he preaches very well, but his life does not agree 
with his sermons." Our Lord Jesus would have us perfect even 
as our Father who is in heaven is perfect.. Every Christian should 
be holy; but we are laid under a sevenfold obligation to it. God 
help us so to live that we may be safe examples to our flocks : 
how can we expect the divine blessing if it be not so? In such 
a case life will go out of jis to others. The man whom God uses 
for quickening is the man who is himself quickened. May we and 
our people become like those ornamental waters which we have 
seen while travelling in foreign parts; the water leaps up as a 



200 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

fountain, and descends into a basin; when that basin is full the 
crystal runs over the brink in a sparkling sheet and rolls into an- 
other basin, and the process is repeated again and again till the 
result charms the eye. At our conference, my brethren, may the 
living waters flow into us, and then flow from us till thousands 
shall receive a blessing, and communicate it to others. *' He that 
believeth in Him, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall 
flow rivers of living water." God fill you to the brim, and cause 
you to overflow. This is essential : life we must have. If among 
us there is a slumbering brother, who does everything in a slow 
way, let him wake up. If any one among us performs his duty in 
a lifeless manner, as if he were paid by the pound, and would not 
give half an ounce over, let him also wake up. Our work requires 
that we serve the Lord with all our heart, and with all our soul, 
and with all our mind, and with all our strength. Ours is no place 
for half-heartedness. Go, ye dead ones; take a chaplain's place at 
the cemetery and bury your dead ; but work among living men 
needs life — vigorous, intense life. A corpse among angelic choirs 
would not be more out of place than a lifeless man in the gospel 
ministry: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 

The last thing, but not the least important, is LOVE. Assuredly 
we must abound in love. It is a hard thing for some preachers to 
saturate and perfume their s^ermons with love ; for their natures are 
hard, or cold, or coarse, or selfish. We are none of us all that we 
ought to be, but some are specially poverty-stricken in point of love. 
They do not " naturally care" for the souls of men, as Paul puts it. 
To all, but especially to the harder sort, we would say, Be doubly 
earnest as to holy charity, for without this you will be no more 
than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Love is power. The 
Holy Spirit for the most part works by our afl"ection. Love men 
to Christ; faith accomplishes much, but love Is the actual instru- 
ment by which faith works out its desires in the name of the Lord 
of love. 

Brethren, love your work. You will never preach well unless 
you are enamored of it: you will never do well in any particular 
charge unless you love the people, and I would almost say the 
village and the meeting-house. I would have you believe that 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. 201 

Slocum-in-the-Marsh is a gem among villages. Think that Lon- 
don may be all very well as a city, but as a village Slocum bears 
the palm. Even your chapel, with all its plainness, should have 
charms for you : be of opinion that the Tabernacle is very well in 
its way, but that it has great deficiencies about it ; that it is too big 
for one thing — at least, too big for you. Your meeting-house 
holds only three hundred and twenty; but in your judgment that 
is quite as large a number as one man can see after with any hope 
of success ; at least it involves a responsibility quite as large as 
you desire to bear. When a mother's love to her children leads 
her to believe that they are the sweetest in the parish, she takes 
more care in their washing and their dressing; if she thought them 
ugly, troublesome beings, she would neglect them ; and I am sure 
that until we heartily love our work, and love the people with 
whom we are working, we shall not accomplish much. I can truly 
say that I do not know anybody in all the world that I would like 
to change places with. "Ah," say you, "that is very likely, for 
you have a fine position." I am quite of that opinion; but I 
thought just the same of my little pastorate at VVaterbeach, and it 
was with the utmost reluctance that I removed from the first to 
the second. I still retain the belief that there were people in my 
first congregation whose like I shall never see again, and that as a 
position of usefulness there are great attractions about that Cam- 
bridgeshire village. It is a rule to which I know of no exception, 
that to prosper in any work you must have an enthusiasm for it. 

You must have also intense love to the souls of men, if you are to 
influence them for good. Nothing can compensate for the absence 
of this. Soul-winning must be your passion, you must be born to 
it; it must be the very breath of your nostrils, the only thing for 
which you count life worth the having. We must hunt after souls 
even as the Swiss hunter pursues the chamois because the spirit of 
the chase has mastered him. Above all, we must feel an intense 
love to God. Our dear brother who led us* in prayer this morning 
rightly spoke of the power which girds us when we burn with love 
to God. Why is it we tell children and young people, " You must 
love Jesus in order to be saved"? This is not the gospel. The 
gospel is, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 



202 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

saved." We are careful to state the matter correctly to the grown 
people; why give it inaccurately to the. young? If we make a 
difference at all it will be wiser to tell the children to believe, and 
the old people to love : the error will be less injurious, for love is 
the great lack of most men. The holy grace of love needs to be 
more preached among us, and more felt by us. *'0h," said a 
woman when she was speaking of the Lord to her minister, " He 
has heard my prayer many a time, and I can have what I want of 
Him, for by His grace I am very thick with Him." She meant 
that communion had wrought sweet fellowship, and so her prayers 
were heard. Oh, that we lived on familiar terms with the Well- 
beloved, and felt His love within our bosoms always. Love to 
God will help a man to persevere in service when otherwise he 
would have given up his work. " The love of Christ constraineth 
us," said one whose heart was all his Master's. I heard one say 
the other day that the '* love of Christ ought to constrain us." 
This is true, but Paul did not so much speak of a duty as of a 
fact: he said, ''The love of Christ constraineth us." 

Beloved brethren, if you are filled with love to your work, and 
love to souls, and love to God, you will gladly endure many self- 
denials which else would be unbearable. The poverty of our 
country brethren is very trying, and ought by all means to be 
relieved ; but we may well feel proud that so many men are 
forthcoming who, for the sake of preaching the gospel of Christ, 
are willing to leave remunerative callings and endure hardness. 
Other denominations might pay them better, but they spurn the 
golden bribe, and remain faithful to Christ and to the ordinances 
as they were delivered. All honor to those life-long martyrs who 
put up with sore privations for the sake of Christ and His Church. 
The devil once met a Christian man, so I have heard, and said 
to hi^m : " You call yourself a servant of God, W^hat do you do 
more than I do? You boast that you fast: so do I ; for I neither 
eat nor drink. You do not commit adultery; neither do L" The 
fiend mentioned a long list of sins of which he is incapable, 
from which he could therefore claim exemption. The saint at 
last said to him: " I do one thing which thou never didst; I deny 
myself." That is the point in which the Christian comes out : he 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1 88 1. 203 

denies himself for Christ's sake ; beheving in Jesus, he counts all 
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus his Lord. Brethren, do not leave your charges because the 
stipend is small. Your poor people must be looked after by 
somebody. Do not despair when times are hard, for they will be 
better by and by; and meanwhile your Heavenly Father knows 
your needs. We have heard of men who have remained in 
plague-stricken cities when others fled, because they could be 
of service to the sick. Abide, then, with your people when work 
fails them ; be as faithful to your God as many a man has been 
faithful to his philanthropy. If you can anyhow manage to tide 
over the present distress, stick to the people. God will help you 
and reward you if you have faith in Him. May the Lord confirm 
your confidente, and comfort you in your tribulation ! 

Go on, brethren, go on preaching the same gospel ; but preach 
it with more faith, and preach it better every day. Do not draw 
back: your place is to the front. Qualify yourselves for larger 
spheres, you that are in little places ; but do not neglect your 
studies to look after better positions. Be 'prepared for an open- 
ing when it comes, and rest assured that the office will come to 
the man who is fit for the office. We are not so cheap that we 
need go hawking ourselves in every market; the churches are 
always on the look-out for really efficient preachers. Men whose 
fitness for the ministry is doubtful are at a great discount nowa- 
days ; but for men of ability and usefulness there is great demand. 

You cannot hide a candle under a bushel, and you cannot keep 
a really able man in an insignificant position. Patronage is of the 
smallest importance ; fitness for the work, grace, ability, earnest- 
ness, and a loving disposition soon push the man into his place. 
God will bring His servant into his true position, if he has but 
faith to trust in Him. I put this word at the tail-end of my 
address, because I know the discouragements under which you 
labor. Do not be afraid of hard work for Christ ; a terrible reck- 
oning awaits those who have an easy time in the ministry, but a 
great reward is in reserve for those who endure all things for the 
elect's sake. You will not regret your poverty when Christ Com- 
eth and calleth His own servants to Him. It will be a sweet thing 



204 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

to have died at your post, not turning aside for wealth, or running 
from Dan to Beersheba to obtain a better salary, but stopping 
where your Lord bade you hold the fort. 

Brethren, consecrate yourselves to God afresh. Bring hither 
new cords. Bind the sacrifice again to the altar ! Struggle as it 
may, anxious to escape the knife, fearful of the fire, yet bind it 
with cords, even with cords, to the horns of the altar ; for until 
death and in death we are the Lord's. Entire surrender of every- 
thing to Jesus is our watchword this day. Only may the Lord 
accept the living sacrifice for Jesus Christ's sake ! Amen. 



XVI. 
STOCKVVELL ORPHANAGE. 



In a church in Verona stands, or rather sits, a wooden image of St. Zeno, 
an ancient bishop, with knees so ludicrously short that there is no lap on which 
a babe could be dandled. He was not the first nor the last ecclesiastic who has 
been utterly incapable of being a nursing father to the Church. It were well if 
all ministers had a heavenly instinct for the nourishing and bringing up of the 
Lord's httle ones. Is there not much lack in this ? — C. H. Spurgeon. 



STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 



o 



F Mr. Spurgeon's Orphanage Mr. Stevenson gives the follow- 
ing account and description : — 



It is the Lord's own work to care for the fatherless. Those who 
have faith in God never need be without success in undertaking 
the care of the orphan. God helps the helpless ; but He uses 
man as His agent in arranging details. Soon after " The Sword 
and the Trowel " was commenced Mr. Spurgeon indicated in one 
of his articles published in its pages several forms of Christian 
usefulness, and amongst them the care of the orphan. 

Shortly afterwards, in September, 1866, Mr. Spurgeon received 
a letter from a lady, offering to place at his command the sum of 
$100,006, with which to commence an orphanage for fatherless 
boys. At first he felt disposed to avoid the onerous responsi- 
bilities of such a work ; and, calling at the address given by the 
lady, tried to prevail upon her to give the money to Mr. Mtiller, 
of Bristol. The claims of London for such an institution were 
urged ; and, unable to refuse the request of the generous donor, 
the money was accepted on trust for the purpose named. Mrs. 
Hillyard, the widow of a clergyman of the Church of England, 
was the lady whose benevolence thus originated the Orphanage. 
The money was in railway debentures, which were not at that time 
available for use otherwise than as an investment. 

After consulting with the leading friends at the Tabernacle, a 
body of twelve trustees was chosen, in whose names the money 
was invested, and a resolution was agreed upon to purchase a 



208 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

suitable plot of land at Stockwell, on which to erect all orphanage. 
In March, 1867, the deed of incorporation was signed by the trus- 
tees, and in May the claims of the projected buildings were urged 
with so much force and urgency that the people belonging to the 
Tabernacle took up the case with loving zeal and energy. By the 
month of August $5,350 were in hand, and the whole church at 
the Tabernacle was engaged in collecting on this behalf. Prayer, 
faith, and prompt, energetic action were all combined in the efforts 
made, and pastors, trustees, and congregation were of one mind 
in their purpose to make the work a success. 

Within the space of a year the plan of the Orphanage was 
matured, the foundations laid, the work was making rapid prog- 
ress, and a large amount of money was in hand for the* purpose. 
Donations from $5 to $1,250 had been generously forwarded to 
help on the work, and a great meeting was held in September, 
1867, when the public generally had an opportunity of showing 
their sympathy with the proceedings. Previously to that large 
meeting the foundation-stones of three of the houses were laid 
under circumstances of more than usual interest. 

Mrs. Tyson, a lady who had often aided Mr. Spurgeon in the 
work of the College, and in other enterprises, had been spared 
to see the twenty-fifth anniversary of her marriage day, on which 
occasion her beloved husband, a wealthy merchant, presented her 
with $2,500. This money the lady at once took to Mr. Spurgeon 
to be dedicated to God for the erection of one of the orphan 
houses, to be called Silver-Wedding House. About the same 
time a merchant in the City called upon the pastor at the Taber- 
nacle, and, after transacting some business with him, left with Mr. 
Spurgeon's secretary a sealed envelope, in which was $3,000, to 
be used in building another house, which, it was afterwards deter- 
mined, should be called Merchant's House, as the donor refused 
to have his name given. The way in which God was answering 
the prayers of His people was further shown by an offer made 
by the workmen who had built the Tabernacle to give the labor 
necessary for erecting a third house, whilst their employer volun- 
teered to give the necessary material: this to be called the 
Workmen's House. 




Boys' Home — Stockwell Orphanage. 



STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 209 

Such manifest tokens of the divine favor attending the work 
greatly encouraged the pastor and the trustees, and on Monday 
afternoon, Aug. 9, 1867, the foundation-stones of the three 
houses named were laid, — one by Mrs. Hillyard, one by Mr. 
Spurgeon, and one by Mr. Higgs. The scene presented at Stock- 
well on that day was exceedingly picturesque and intensely inter- 
esting.. At the monster tea-meeting which followed, the tables 
extended three hundred and thirty feet in length, and the bright 
sunshine made the scene one of joy and delight, which will long 
be remembered, though the rain, which came down so bountifully 
just as tea was over, caused much discomfort. The subscriptions 
brought in that day reached $12,000. In "The Sword and the 
Trowel" for October the names of 1,120 collectors are printed, 
with the amounts on their cards, stated to be $14,010. Amongst 
the collectors were members of the Church of England, Congre- 
gationalists, Methodists, Baptists, and others, so general had been 
the sympathy which was felt in the work. 

The faith of the pastor and trustees of the Orphanage was 
greatly strengthened by the wonderful manner in which God had 
answered their prayers and rewarded their efforts. It was an- 
nounced that eight houses were contemplated, to provide for not 
less than one hundred and fifty orphans, requiring an outlay of 
$15,000 per annum. Messrs. Olney and Sons gave $2,500 to erect 
a fourth house, to be called, after the sainted and venerable Mrs. 
Olney, Unity House. 

By the end of the year 1867 the trustees had no less than two 
hundred names of orphans from whom to select fifty in the follow- 
ing April. The pressing need of providing for these children made 
the way more easy for extending the work. Accordingly, at the 
meeting of the Baptist Union, early in 1868, it was resolved that 
an effort should be made to raise the funds necessary for erecting 
two houses, at a cost of $3,000 each. Whilst these efforts were 
being made amongst the Baptists, Mr. Thomas Olney, as the 
superintendent of the Tabernacle Sunday-school, aided by the 
teachers and scholars, was collecting the funds necessary for erect- 
ing a house to represent the young children. Simultaneously 
with that effort was another amongst the students at the College, 

14 



2IO LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

who had resolved to show their affection for their pastor by raising 
money sufficient to erect a house on their behalf, and to perpetu- 
ate their institution by having it named the College House. 

Two meetings were held at the Orphanage in June, 1868; one 
on the 1st of June, when the venerable Thomas OIney, sr., laid 
the foundation-stone of the building which was to form the lecture 
and dining-hall, the master's house, and the entrance gateway. It 
w^as a gladsome sight to witness the joy of the venerable man, 
who had for nearly threescore years been connected with the 
church worshipping at the Tabernacle, as he performed the 
pleasing duty assigned to him. 

On the same day the Rev. John Aldis, of Reading, and Alex- 
ander B. Goodall, Esq., each laid one of the foundation-stones 
of the two Testimonial Houses subscribed for by the Baptist 
churches as a token of regard to Mr. Spurgeon. A monster tea- 
meeting followed the proceedings, after Avhich addresses were 
delivered by the Revs. Thomas Binney, Dr. Raleigh, J. T. Wig- 
ner, \V. Brock, D.D., W. Howieson, A. Mursell, Henry Varley, 
W. Stott, S. H. Booth, G. Gould, J. Raven, J. H. Millard, John 
Spurgeon, sr., C. H. Spurgeon, and James A. Spurgeon. Mr. 
Wigner presented to the pastor an address of affectionate sym- 
pathy from the Baptist churches, which was signed by Mr. Good- 
all and himself on behalf of the subscribers to the fund, and with 
the address was the sum of $6,000. That sum was afterwards 
increased to $8,720, so as to include the furniture and fittings 
for the two houses, that the offering might be in every respect 
complete in all its parts. 

The meeting held on June 19th, the thirty-fourth birthday of 
Mr. Spurgeon, was, if possible, a more joyous and enthusiastic one 
than any of the preceding. On that day Mr. Thomas Olney, jr., 
surrounded by a huge mass of children forming the Tabernacle 
Sunday-schools, laid the foundation-stone of the Sunday-school 
House, amidst the enthusiastic applause of the delighted children. 
It was a time of joy they will all long remember. Dear Mrs. 
Spurgeon, so long a suffering invalid, was there to witness the 
happiness of the assembly, and by request from the students at 
the College, and the ministers who had gone from it, she was 



STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 211 

induced to lay the foundation-stone of the College House. She 
was graciously upheld on the occasion, although the surpassing 
kindness displayed was enough to overcome one of a stronger 
frame. After the stone-laying was over, twenty-six sweet little 
girls in white advanced one by one, and presented Mrs. Spurgeon 
with purses which their parents had subscribed as a token of their 
affectionate rejoicing at her temporary restoration. It was a 
touching, beautiful, and unexpected sight, w^hich deserves to be 
recorded. A large sum of money was presented to Mr. Spurgeon 
as a birthday offering, which he put into the Orphanage treastuy. 

Another incident occurred at that period w^iich deserves to be 
placed on record. The Baptist church at Liverpool, over which 
the Rev, Hugh Stowell Brown presides, was about to be re- 
opened, and Mr. Spurgeon consented to preach the sermons. 
He did so : but the church and congregation resolved to defray 
the cost of the repairs, and gave to Mr. Spurgeon for the Orphan- 
age the whole of the collection, which amounted to $1,250. 

The manner in which the funds have been contributed, first to 
erect the Orphanage buildings, and since then to maintain the 
children and officers, and keep the whole establishment in con- 
tinuous operation, most clearly indicates that from the commence- 
ment of the work, up to the present time, the hand of God has 
been directing the whole. 

Each house was occupied as soon as it was finished ; but unable 
to w^ait until the first was ready, so soon as the plan of the Or- 
phanage was matured and trustees appointed, four orphans were 
selected and placed under the charge of a sister in her own house. 
As money came in others were added to them. To manifest still 
further the interest which Mrs. Hillyard took in the work, when 
she found several orphans already in charge of a matron, she sold 
some household plate to give the money for their support. Thus 
encouraged, by the month of July, 1867, before the foundation- 
stones were actually laid, seven boys were chosen by the trustees 
as a commencement. It was wonderful how the money was sent 
in. One day, just as Mr. Spurgeon finished his sermon in the 
open air, a lady put into his hand an envelope containing $100 
for the Orphanage and $100 for the College. In January, 1868, 



212 LIFE AND LABORS OF C, H. SFURGEON. 

Mr. Spurgeon announced in his magazine that an unknown gentle- 
man had given him $5,000 towards two of the houses. In March 
another sum of $5,000 was announced, and in June the Baptist 
churches sent in $6,000. In September, a year after the work 
began, a great bazaar was held, which brought in a net profit of 
$7,000. How many loving hearts and willing hands were em- 
ployed to bring about such a result, it would be impossible to tell, 
though there were but few of the eleven hundred collectors, who 
so nobly came forward at the first meeting a year before, who 
did not lend a helping hand to the bazaar. By the end of the 
year the president announced in his magazine that only $5,000 
more was required to complete the eight houses, " and this," says 
he, ''will surely be sent in; for the Lord will provide." And so it 
came to pass. 

In January, 1869, fifty children had been chosen to occupy the 
houses as soon as they should be ready, but up to the month of June 
only twenty-nine orphans were in residence. The chief difficulty 
which for some time had given anxiety to the trustees was to find 
a suitable superintendent. Several persons had presented them- 
selves, but not one had satisfied the claims of the institution. 
When the difficulty seemed to be the greatest, Divine Providence 
sent the right man. Vernon J. Charlesworth, who had been for 
seven years co-pastor at Surrey Chapel with Newman Hall, offered 
his services, and they were accepited. Mr. Charlesworth was at 
once appointed : and the ability which he has manifested in 
managing the affairs of the institution is very satisfactory evi- 
dence that he is the right man in the right place. By his 
influence within the Orphanage, and by his pen outside, he has 
shown himself to be the orphan's friend. 

Up to the spring of the year 1870 one hundred and fifty-four 
orphans had been admitted, six of whom had been removed, 
leaving one hundred and forty-eight in residence. In 1877 the 
resident orphans numbered two hundred and thirty. 

' Each of the eight houses forms a separate family, that plan having 
after mature consideration been resolved upon as the best. Each 
family is complete in its own arrangements ; each dwelling having 
a. large sitting and four lofty bed-rooms for the boys, with lockers, 



STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 213 

which, when -closed, form handy seats in the middle of the room ; 
and a sitting-room, bed-room, and kitchen for the matron in 
charge. A large covered play-room adjoins the houses on the 
east, and separate from that is the infirmary, forming the east 
end of the quadrangle. At the west end is the school-room and 
dining-hall, the master's house and entrance gateway : and in the 
rear of the dining-hall is the suite of offices for cooking and other 
domestic purposes. 

In selecting the most needy boys for the benefits of the institu- 
tion, the trustees are in no way influenced by the religious opinions 
of their parents. Those showing the most pressing want have the 
preference. 

A judicious writer has said of the Stockwell Orphanage : *' How 
superior any real approach to the family ideal is to the barrack 
system was apparent to us on a mere glance at these fatherless 
lads. The families are large, about thirty boys in each house ; 
but they are under the care of afi'ectionate and diligent matrons, 
and everything is done to compensate for the loss of parental 
rule and training. There is more of the ^ home ' than of the 
* institution ' in the atmosphere. To encourage home ideas, and 
for the sake of industrial training, the boys in turn assist in the 
domestic work during the morning of the day; each boy's period 
of service being restricted to one week in six, servants being 
entirely dispensed with. A working cook superintends the kitchen, 
aided by the boys. No regimental uniform is suffered. The boys 
diff"er in the clothes they wear, in the cut of the hair, and show 
all the variety of a large family. The boys do not look like 
loosely connected members of a huge and miscellaneous crowd, 
but sons and brothers. No traces of ill-disguised dissatisfaction, 
as though in perpetual restraint, always under orders, were 
apparent; but a free, healthy, and vigorous homeliness, as if 
under the genial and robust influence of love, made itself every- 
where manifest. With all the care of a Christian father, situations 
are chosen for the lads, where their spiritual interests will not be 
in danger; and when they have been passed into them the master 
corresponds with them, and gives them counsel and assistance 
as they need. Like a true home, its benediction follows every 



214 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

inmate throughout his life. We were specially pleased with our 
visit to the school. The boys are well drilled in elementary 
knowledge, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, history, geogra- 
phy, vocal music, Latin, shorthand, science of common things, 
and Scripture. A French class is held for the elder boys. Mili- 
tary drill is given daily. Drawing is successfully taught, and 
many boys excel in it. The singing-class did very great credit 
to its instructor, — singing at sight, with great accuracy and 
sweetness, music of some difficulty." Two of H. M. Inspectors 
were deputed from the Local Government Board to visit the 
institution, and they gave the following report, which reflects the 
highest credit upon Mr. Spurgeon for his wisdom and prudence : 
" An admirable institution, good in design, and, if possible, better 
in execution." 

The children are admitted between the ages of six and ten 
years, and they remain until they are fourteen. From an abstract 
drawn up by the master in 1873 it was found that the creeds of 
the parents of the children admitted to that date were in the 
following proportions : sixty-nine were members of the Church 
of England; twenty-six Independent; nineteen Wesleyan; fifty- 
one Baptist; four Presbyterian; one Catholic; and thirty-five 
made no profession of religion. 

In the management of the Orphanage will be found one of its 
chief attractions, and one which ought to commend its plans to 
other similar institutions. The author of a book called *' Con- 
trasts " cites the Stockwell School as a specimen of admirable 
administration, proving that large expenditure in some public 
institutions does not guarantee thorough satisfaction. In some 
orphan schools and pauper schools the rate of expense per head 
is from one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and forty-five 
dollars, whilst in the Stockwell Orphanage, with complete organ- 
ization and highly satisfactory results in each department, the 
cost is only seventy-two dollars per head, inclusive of every- 
thing. This is the highest testimonial which could be given of 
its efficiency. 

Looking over the list of applications which are entered in the 
books at Stockwell, it was ascertained that two only out of every 



STOCKWELL ORPHANAGE. 215 

dozen cases could be received. What becomes of the other ten? 
" Think of widows, some of them sickly and unable to work, with 
four or five children ; families of orphans deprived of both parents ; 
and yet the Stockwell trustees had to decline them because there 
were more necessitous cases. But there was one comfort, they 
had not to pay any election expenses." On that subject Mr. 
Spurgeon has written the following judicious remarks: ''No 
widow ever goes away lamenting over time, labor, and money 
spent in vain. The worst that can happen is to be refused because 
there is no room, or her case is not so bad as that of others. 
Not a shilling will have been spent in purchasing votes, no time 
lost in canvassing, no cringing to obtain patronage. Her case is 
judged on its merits, and the most necessitous wins the day. We 
have now so many appHcants and so few vacancies, that women 
with two or three children are advised not to apply, for while 
there are others with five, six, or seven children depending upon 
them, they cannot hope to succeed." A dozen orphanages as 
large as the one at Stockwell could be filled at once with children 
needing such help. 

The economy with which the Orphanage has been managed 
has excited the admiration of many who are familiar with the 
details of kindred institutions. Those who honor Mr, Spurgeon 
with their contributions make a good investment, and will share 
in the blessedness of the return. The office expenses are reduced 
to a minimum, and no paid canvassers are employed. Offerings 
find their way into the exchequer from all parts of the globe, and 
though at times there has been a little tightness felt, the children 
have never lacked a meal. Mr. Spurgeon is a man of unwavering 
faith in the living God, and though his faith has been put to the 
severest test, it has never failed him. Friends who have not been 
able to give money have sent gifts in kind. Flour and potatoes, 
meat and preserves, are always gladly received. One manufac- 
turer has given all the coverlets for the beds, and the proprietors 
and pupils of a young ladies' school have endeavored to keep 
the boys supplied with shirts. 

The Orphanage has now existed long enough to form a correct 
opinion of its merits in every department. Hundreds of boys 



2l6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

have left the school and entered on- the duties of life. The reports 
which have been received annually from those business men who 
have taken them have been most gratifying. With few excep- 
tions, those who have left keep up communication with the home. 
Summing up these results, a recent report says: "Almost every 
boy who has gone into a situation has given satisfaction. Where 
failure has occurred it has arisen from a craving for the sea, or from 
the interference of an unwise mother. Some of the lads are in 
good positions, and command the esteem of their employers." 

Nearly all the boys have sent a portion of their first earnings 
as a donation to the Orphanage, in sums varying from one dollar 
to five dollars, thus manifesting a spirit of gratitude. Some of 
the letters received from them are read to the boys, and produce 
on their minds beneficial results. Many of the boys have, before 
they have left, become decided Christians, and some have made 
public confession of their faith by baptism. The head master 
himself was publicly baptized in 1874, and five of the boys joined 
him in the same act of dedication. Others have become members 
of Christian churches in the towns and villages where they have 
gone to reside. One of the first boys converted is now devoting 
his evenings and Sundays to missionary work in South London, 
and showed so much talent for preaching that he was received 
into the College in January, 1876. 

It is gratifying to be able to record that the health of the 
inmates has been graciously maintained, with but little interrup- 
tion, through the several years of its existence. A few who 
entered in feeble health have fallen into consumption and died, 
although the locality is most favorable to health. Of those who 
have died, it is pleasing to have to record that their youthful 
spirits passed away trusting in Jesus^ 

lihe 1875 anniversary of the schools was held at the Orphanage 
on the pastor's birthday, June 19th, which was preceded by a 
bazaar. The attendance was so numerous that it was necessary 
to hold two public meetings to accommodate the large number 
of persons present. The Earl of Shaftesbury was present, and 
spoke at both the services. The contributions added two thou- 
sand five hundred dollars to the funds. 



XVII. 
ANNUAL REPORT, 1881. 



In dibbling beans the old practice was to put three in each hole : one for 
the worm, one for the crow, and one to live and produce the crop. In teaching 
children, we must give hne upon line and precept upon precept, repeating the 
truth which we would inculcate, till it becomes impossible for the child to for- 
get it. We may well give the lesson once, expecting the child's frail memory 
to lose it; twice, reckoning that the devil, Hke an ill bird, will steal it; thrice, 
hoping that it will take root downward, and bring forth fruit upward to the glory 
of God. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



ANNUAL REPORT, 



I 



N issuing the twelfth annual report of the Stockwell Orphanage 
the Committee write : — 



With profound gratitude to our Heavenly Father we issue the 
Twelfth Report of the Stockwell Orphanage, and our gratitude 
will be shared, we doubt not, by all who have given of their sub- 
stance towards the maintenance and development of the institu- 
tion. We therefore invite all our readers to " rejoice with us " 
in the tokens of the divine favor which have crowned our labors 
during another year. " The Lord hath been mindful of us : He 
will bless us." 

When we remember how this gracious work began by the con- 
secrated thought of a holy woman, and then grew into an actual 
gift from her hand, and further developed, by the large help ot 
others, into houses and schools, infirmary and dining-hall, and all 
manner of provision for destitute children, we feel bound to cry, 
" What hath God wrought ! " Our God has supplied all our 
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The story 
of the Stockwell Orphanage will be worth telling in heaven when 
.the angels shall learn from the Church the manifold wisdom and 
goodness of the Lord. Incidents which could not be published 
on earth will be made known in the heavenly city, where every 
secret thing shall be revealed. How every need has been sup- 
plied before it has become a want ; how guidance has been given 
before questions have become anxieties ; how friends have been 
raised up in unbroken succession, and how the One Great Friend 



220 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

has been ever present, no single pen can ever record. To care 
for the fatherless has been a work of joyful faith all along, and in 
waiting upon God for supplies we have experienced great delight. 
The way of faith in God is the best possible. We could not have* 
carried on the work by a method more pleasant, more certain, 
more enduring. If we had depended upon annual subscribers 
we should have had to hunt them up and pay a heavy poundage, 
or perhaps fail to keep up the roll ; if we had advertised contin- 
ually for funds our outlay might have brought in a scanty return ; 
but dependence upon God has been attended with no such haz- 
ards. We have done our best as men of business to keep the 
Orphanage before the public, but we have desired in all things 
to exercise faith as servants of Gpd. Whatever weakness we have 
personally to confess and deplore, there is no weakness in the 
plan of faith in God. Our experience compels us to declare that 
He is the living God ; the God that heareth prayer ; the God who 
will never permit those who trust in Him to be confounded. The 
business world has passed through trying times during the last few 
years, but the Orphanage has not been tried ; men of great enter- 
prise have failed, but the home for the fatherless has not failed ; for 
this enterprise is in the divine hand, an eye watches over it which 
neither slumbers nor sleeps. 

Let the people of God be encouraged by the fact of the exist- 
ence and prosperity of the Stockwell Orphanage. Miracles have 
come to an end, but God goes on to work great wonders : the rod 
of Moses is laid aside, but the rod and staff of the Great Shepherd 
still compass us. 

The son of an old Puritan rode some twenty miles to meet 
his father, who came a similar distance to the half-way house. 
** Father," said the son, '' I have- met with a special providence, 
for my horse stumbled at least a dozen times, and yet it did not' 
fall." " Ah ! " replied the father, " I have had a providence quite 
as remarkable, for my horse did not stumble once all the way." 
This last is the happy picture of the Orphanage for some time 
past, and indeed throughout its whole career : we have never had 
to issue mournful appeals because of exhausted resources, and in 
this we must see and admire the good hand of the Lord. 



ANNUAL REPORT, 1 88 1. 



221 



We now enter more fully upon a fresh stage of our existence ; 
we shall need to double the amount of our present income, and 
we shall have it from the ever-opened hand of the Lord our God. 
Friends will be moved to think of our great family, for our Great 




ONE OF THE SCHOOL-ROOMS. 

Remembrancer will stir them up. The duty of each Christian to 
the mass of destitute orphanhood is clear enough, and if pure 
minds are stirred up by way of remembrance there will be no lack 
in the larder, no want in the wardrobe, no failing in the funds of 
our Orphan House. 

We labor under one great difficulty: many people say, '* Mr. 
Spurgeon will be sure to get the money, and there is no need for 
us to send." It is clear that if everybody talked so, our presi- 



222 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

dent's name would be a hindrance instead of a help. He will be 
the means of finding money for our institution, for the Lord will 
honor his faith and hear his prayers, and be glorified in him ; but 
there will be no thanks due to those who fabricate an excuse for 
themselves out of the faithfulness of God. This difficulty, how- 
ever, does not distress us : we go forward believing that when Vv^e 
have twice our present number of children the Lord will send us 
double supplies ; we cannot entertain the suspicion that the girls 
will be left without their portion, for we, being evil, care as much 
for our daughters as for our sons, and our Heavenly Father will 
do the same. It is well, however, to remind our friends of this, 
that each helper of the Orphanage may try to interest another 
generous heart, and so enlarge the circle of our friends. It may 
be that by such means the Great Provider will supply us ; for we 
know that when our Lord fed the multitude He first said to His 
disciples, '* Give ye them to eat." 

The sanitary condition of the Orphanage has been all that we 
could desire. Considering that so large a proportion of the chil- 
dren come to us in a delicate condition, and some with the taint 
of hereditary disease, it is a matter for devout thankfulness that 
their general health is so good, and that so few deaths have 
occurred. Out of the entire number who have left, only one boy 
was unable to enter upon a situation in consequence of an enfee- 
bled constitution. We owe it to an ever-watchful Providence that, 
during the prevailing epidemic, not a single case of fever or small- 
pox has occurred in the institution. 

Family worship is conducted twice daily, before the morning 
and evening meals, by the head master or his assistants, the 
service being taken occasionally by the president, or a member 
of the committee, or, a visitor to the institution who may happen 
to be present. The Word of God is read and expounded, hymns 
sung, and prayer offered, and the whole of the boys repeat a text 
selected for the day. A service is conducted for the elder boys 
every Wednesday evening by Mr. W. J. Evans, when addresses 
are given by ministers and other friends. 

During their term of residence in the institution all the boys 
are total abstainers, no alcoholic liquors being allowed except by 



ANNUAL REPORT, 1 88 1. 223 

order of the doctor, but most of them are pledged abstainers, 
with the approval of their friends. Band of Hope meetings are 
held every month, when the children receive instruction from 
competent speakers ; and lectures are given at intervals during 
the winter months. 

The operations of the Institution reveal to the managers the 
wide-spread necessity which exists. The cry of the orphan comes 
from every part of our beloved land, and the plea of the widow 
for Christian sympathy and help is restricted to no one class of 
the community. Faces once radiant with smiles are saddened 
with grief, for the dark shadow which death casts falls everywhere. 
How true are the lines of the poet : — 

" There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
But has one vacant chair." 

It is a constant joy to the president and the committee that 
they are able to mitigate to such a large extent the misery and 
need which are brought under their notice; and it must be an 
equal joy to the subscribers to know that their loving contribu- 
tions furnish the sinews for this holy war. 

As our Sunday-school is affiliated to the Sunday-school Union, 
we allow the boys who desire to do so to sit for examination. Of 
the candidates who were successful at the last examination, three 
gained prizes, twelve first-class certificates,"and thirty-eight second- 
class certificates. 

During the year the boys took part in the Crystal Palace 
Musical Festivals arranged by the Band of Hope Union and the 
Tonic Sol-fa Association. 

In order to make the character and claims of the institution 
more widely known, the head master and the secretary have held 
meetings In London and the provinces, and the success which has 
crowned their efforts Is of a very gratifying character. The boys 
who accompany them to sing and -to recite furnish a powerful 
appeal by their appearance and conduct, and commend the insti- 
tution to which they owe so much. The local papers speak in 
terms of the highest praise of their services, and thus a most 
effective advertisement is secured without any cost to the institu- 



224 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

tion. So far as the boys are concerned these trips have an educa- 
tional value, for they get to know a great deal of the products 
and industries of different parts of the country, besides securing 
the advantage of being brought into contact with Christian families 
where they reside during their visit. 

The amount realized during the year, after defraying all ex- 
penses, is $3,320, and our thanks are hereby tendered to all who 
assisted in any way to secure such a splendid result. 

The committee record with thankfulness that there has been 
no lack in the funds contributed for the efficient maintenance of 
the institution. Friends prefer to give donations rather than 
pledge themselves to send annual subscriptions, and the benevo- 
lence thus manifested is purely spontaneous. The adrtiirable 
custom of making shirts for the boys is still continued by the 
young ladies of an educational establishment, who send in a sup- 
ply of two hundred shirts every year. Their efforts are supple- 
mented by several working associations, but the supply is not yet 
equal to the demand, and we cordially invite the co-operation of 
others, to whom we shall be glad to send samples and patterns. 

The work of caring for the widow and the fatherless is specially 
mentioned by the Holy Spirit as one of the most acceptable 
modes of giving outward expression to pure religion and undefiled 
before God and the Father, and therefore the Lord's people will 
not question that they should help in carrying it out. Will it 
need much pleading? If so, we cannot use it, as we shrink from 
marring the willinghood which is the charm of such a service. 
The work is carried on in dependence upon God, and as His 
blessing evidently rests upon it, we are confident the means will 
be forthcoming as the need arises. While commending the work 
to our Heavenly Father in prayer, we deem it right to lay before 
the stewards of His bounty the necessities and claims of the 
institution. 

The year 1880 will be a memorable one in the history of the 
institution, and we record with gratitude the fact that the founda- 
tion-stones of the first four houses for the Girls' Orphanage were 
laid on the 22d of June, when the president's birthday was 
celebrated. It was a joy to all present that Mrs. Spurgeon was 



i88i. 225 

able to lay the memorial stone of '* The Sermon House, the 
gift of C. H. . Spurgeon and his esteemed publishers, Messrs. 
Passmore and Alabaster." The memorial stone of another house, 
the gift of Mr. W. R. Rickett, and called '* The Limes, in tender 
memory of five beloved children," was laid by C. H. Spurgeon, 
who made a touching allusion to the sad event thus commemo- 
rated. Mrs. Samuel Barrow laid the memorial stone of the house 
called " The Olives," the amount for its erection having been 
given and collected by her beloved husband. The trustees of the 
institution having subscribed the funds for the erection of a house, 
the treasurer, Mr. William Higgs, laid, in their name, the memorial 
stone which bears the inscription, '' Erected by the Trustees of the 
Orphanage to express their joy in this service of love." 

At the present moment the buildings of the Orphanage form a 
great square, enclosing a fine space for air and exercise. Visitors 
generally express great surprise at the beauty and openness of 
the whole establishment. Much remains to be done before the 
institution is completely accommodated ; there is needed an 
infirmary for the girls, and till that is built one of the houses 
will have to be used for that purpose, thus occupying the space 
which would otherwise be filled by thirty or forty children : this 
should be attended to at an early date. Baths and washhouses 
will be urgently required for the girls, and we propose to make 
them sufficiently commodious for the girls to do the washing for 
the entire community of five hundred children, thus instructing 
them in household duties and saving a considerable expense. 
We would not spend a sixpence needlessly. No money has been 
wasted in lavish ornament or in hideous ugliness. The buildings 
are not a workhouse or a county jail, but a pleasant residence for 
those children of whom God declares Himself to be the Father. 
The additional buildings which we contemplate are not for luxury, 
but for necessary uses ; and as we endeavor to lay out money 
with judicious economy, we feel sure that we shall be trusted in 
the future as in the past. 

Are there not friends waiting to take a share in the Stockwell 
Orphanage Building? They cannot better commemorate personal 
blessings, nor can they find a more suitable memorial for departed 

15 



226 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

friends. No storied urn or animated bust can half so well record 
the memory of beloved ones as a stone in an Orphan House. 
Most of the buildings are already appropriated as memorials in 
some form or other, and only a few more will be needed. Very 
soon all building operations will be complete, and those who have 
lost the opportunity of becoming shareholders in the Home of 
Mercy may regret their delay. At any rate, none who place a 
stone in the walls of the Stockwell Orphanage will ever lament 
that they did this deed of love to the little ones for whom Jesus 
cares. Honored names are with us already engraven upon the 
stones of this great Hostelry of the All-merciful ; and many others 
are our co-workers whose record is on high, though unknown 
among men. Who will be the next to join us in this .happy 
labor? 

When the whole, of the buildings are complete, the institution 
will afford accommodation for five hundred children, and prove a 
memorial of Christian generosity and of the loving-kindness of 
the Lord. • 

The next brief chapter, on " The Girls' Orphange," is from the 
pen of Mr. Spurgeon. 



XVIII. 
THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE. 



He who is the feeder of sparrows will also furnish you with what you need. 
Sit not down in despair; hope on, hope ever. Take up the arms of faith 
against a sea of fears, "and by opposing end them." There is One above 
who cares for you, though all men deny you sympathy. He gave His Son to 
redeem you, and He will not suffer His redeemed to be famished. He will 
hear your cry. At any rate, try Him and see. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE. 



IN our address at the presentation of the late testimonial, we 
disclaimed all personal credit for the existence of any one of 
the enterprises over which we preside, because each one of them 
has been forced upon us. *' I could not help undertaking them," 
was our honest and just confession. This is literally true, and 
another illustration of this fact is now to come before the Chris- 
tian public. Several of us have long cherished the idea that the 
time would come in which we should have an Orphanage for girls 
as well as for boys. It would be hard to conceive why this should 
not be. It seems ungallant, not to say unrighteous, to provide 
for children of one sex only, for are not all needy little ones dear 
to Christ, with whom there is neither male nor female? We do 
not like to do such things by halves, and it is but half doing the 
thing to leave the girls out in the cold. We have all along wished 
to launch out in the new direction, but we had quite enough on 
hand for the time being, and were obliged to wait. The matter 
has been thought of, and talked about, and more than half prom- 
ised, but nothing has come of it till this present, and now, as we 
believe at the exact moment, the hour has struck, and the voice of 
God in providence says, *' Go forward." The fund for the Girls' 
Orphanage has commenced, and there are about a dozen names 
upon the roll at the moment of our writing. The work will be 
carried on with vigor as the Lord shall be pleased to send the 
means, but it will not be unduly pushed upon any one so as to be 
regarded as a new burden, for we want none but cheerful helpers, 
who will count it a privilege to have a share in the good work. 



230 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

We shall employ no collector to make a percentage by dunning 
the unwilling, and shall make no private appeals to individuals. 
There is the case : if it be a good one and you are able to help it, 
please do so; but if you have no wish in that direction, our Lord's 
work does not require us to go a begging like a pauper, and we do 
not intend to do so. 

We have never been in debt yet, nor have we had a mortgage upon 
any of onr buildings, nor have we even borrowed mojtey for a time, 
but we have always been able to pay as we have gone on. Our 
prayer is that we may never have to come down to a lower 
platform and commence borrowing. 

It has often happened that we have been unable to assist widows 
in necessitous circumstances with large families, because there did 
not happen to be a boy of the special age required by the rules of 
our Boys' Orphanage. There were several girls, but then we could 
not take girls, and however deserving the case, we have been 
unable to render any assistance to very deserving widows, simply 
because their children were not boys. This is one reason why we 
need a Girls' Orphanage. 

Everywhere also there is an outcry about the scarcity of good 
servants, honest servants, industrious servants, well-trained ser- 
vants. We know where to find the sisters who will try to produce 
such workers out of the little ones who will come under their 
care. 

We have succeeded by God's grace and the diligent care of our 
masters and matrons in training the lads so that they have become 
valuable to business men : why should not the same divine help 
direct us with the lasses, so that domestics and governesses should 
go forth from us as well as clerks and artisans? We believe that 
there are many friends who will take a special interest in the girls, 
and that there are some whose trades would more readily enable 
them to give articles suitable for girls than those which are useful 
to boys. 

Here is a grand opportunity for Christian people with means to 
take their places among the first founders of this new institution, 
and if they judge that such a work will be good and useful, we 
hope that they will without fail, and zvithout delay, come to our 



THE GIRLS' ORPHANAGE. 23 1 

assistance in this fresh branch of service. We cannot afford to lose 
a single penny from the funds for the boys, but this work for the 
girls must be something extra and above. You helped Willie and 
Tommy: will you not help Mary and Maggie? 

It is very needful to add that foolish persons often say: Mr. 
Spurgeon can get plenty of money, and needs no help. If all 
were to talk in this fashion, where would our many works drift to? 
Mr. Spurgeon does get large sums, but not a penny more than 
the various works require, and he gets it because God moves His 
people to give it, as he hopes, good reader. He may move you. 
We have no personal end to serve, we do not, directly or indirectly, 
gain a single penny by the Orphanage, College, or any other socie- 
ties over which we preside ; neither have we any wealthy persons 
around us who are at a loss to dispose of their property ; but our 
hard-working church keeps continually consecrating its offerings, 
and our friends far and near think upon us. Our treasury is the 
bounty of God, our motto is : THE LoRD WILL PROVIDE. Past 
mercy forbids a doubt as to the future, and so in the name of God 
we set up our banners. 

The girls' part is not yet fully complete, but it soon will be so, 
and then we m.ust take in the girls. Now it occurs to me to let 
my friends know the increased need which has arisen, and will arise 
from the doubling of the number of children. The income must 
by some means be doubled. My trust is in the Lord alone, for 
whose sake I bear this burden. I believe that He has led me all 
along in the erection and carrying on of this enterprise, and I am 
also well assured that His own hand pointed to the present exten- 
sion, and supplied the means for making it. I therefore rest in 
the providence of God alone. But the food for the children will 
not drop as manna from heaven, it will be sent in a way which is 
more beneficial, for the graces of His children will be displayed 
in the liberality which will supply the needs of the orphans. God 
will neither feed the children by angels nor by ravens, but by the 
loving gifts of His people. It is needful, therefore, that I tell my 
friends of our need, and I do hereby tell them. The institution 
will need, in rough figures, about one thousand dollars a week. 



232 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

This is a large sum, and when I think of it I am appalled if 
Satan suggests the question : " What if the money does not come 
in?" But it is nothing to the Lord of the whole earth to feed 
five hundred little ones. He has kept two hundred and fifty boys 
for these years, and He can do the like for the same number of 
girls. Only let not His stewards say that there is no need at Stock- 
well, for there is great and crying need that all my friends should 
inquire whether they may not wisely render me much more aid 
than they have done. The buildings are not all finished yet, nor 
the roads made, but this will soon be accomplished, and then the 
institution will be in full operation, and its requirements will be 
great. I have written these lines with a measure of reluctance ; 
and I hope it is not in unbelief, but as a reasonable service, 'that I 
have thus stated the case. 



XIX. 
SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 



Dear friend, whether you die as soon as you are born again, or remain on 
earth for many years, is comparatively a small matter, and will not materially 
alter your indebtedness to divine grace. In the one case the great Husband- 
man will show how He can bring His flowers speedily to perfection ; and in 
the other He will prove how He can preserve them in blooming beauty, despite 
the frosts and snows of earth's cruel winter ; in either case your experience 
will reveal the same love and power, -^ C. H. Spurgeon. 



SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 



ABUNDANT evidence has been given to assure the founder 
and patrons of the Orphanage that the aim ever in view, 
viz., the spiritual good of the children, is being constantly realized. 
The little ones who have been removed by death have died in 
the Lord. Mr. Charlesworth, the head master, tells the following 
pathetic story concerning one of " these little ones " : — 

During the history of the Orphanage we have received a num- 
ber of children to whom has been bequeathed a heritage of dis- 
ease. In many cases, we are thankful to say, delicate boys, of 
whom at first we stood in doubt, have become strong and healthy 
youths. God has been very gracious in blessing the ministra- 
tions of doctors and nurses to the complete renovation of consti- 
tutions enfeebled by disease, neglect, or want. Our death-rate 
has been very small considering the large proportion of children 
whose parents died of pulmonary disease and other hereditary 
complaints. Only thirteen out of five hundred and sixty-seven 
have been removed by death during their term, and of these one 
died in a fit within a few hours of his admission, and another of 
scarlet fever while away for a holiday. With the exception of one 
boy, who died of scarlet fever, all the rest fell victims to inherited 
disease. 

With devout gratitude to our Heavenly Father we record the 
pleasing fact that all who have died in the institution not only gave 
evidence of conversion, but experienced the rapture of saints who 
are fully assured of their personal interest in the Saviour and of 



236 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

their eternal home in the house of many mansions. In the Httle 
books entitled *' Love Jesus and Live for Heaven " and " Little 
Dicky" we have endeavored to describe the dying experiences 
of two of the boys, and now it has fallen to our lot to write of 
another who has only just fallen asleep. The realities thus de- 
scribed may seem to some to belong to the realm of fiction; but 
we ask to be believed when we affirm that we have not exagger- 
ated, nor even colored, a single expression. 

Ernest Edgar Bray, the last of the number called to the fold 
above, came to us after he had lost both parents. He was a 
simple-minded, affectionate boy, but for several years he was pos- 
sessed of very little moral consciousness. His conduct at times 
was a severe strain upon the patience of his matron and teachers, 
and on several occasions he brought himself into disgrace by his 
folly and sin. We mention this at the outset to show that he had 
no natural bias towards goodness, and that his Christian character 
was not due to the development of inherited virtues. The child- 
piety of the theorists is a quality we have never met with during 
a long experience ; but the piety which springs from a regener- 
ated nature is a beautiful adornment we have often witnessed. In 
every such case the character and conduct after conversion formed 
a striking contrast to all that had gone before. The change was 
so radical, that the second phase of experience seemed to belong 
to another individual. " From darkness to light " indicates the 
change of which a new-born soul is conscious; '' from the king- 
.dom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son " suggests the 
altered relationship into which a *' child of God " enters. The 
change is not a development, but a translation. If it be claimed 
by some that the artless simplicity of childhood carries with it the 
germs of a Christian character, and that children ought to grow 
up, under proper nurture, and " never know themselves as other 
than Christian," we challenge the theory by demanding an illus- 
tration. If a case in point be adduced, we shall then claim the 
liberty to withhold our assent unless we can be certified that no 
radical change has ever been effected by the grace of God. We' 
believe it to be contrary to the testimony of the Word of God 
and to the uniform experience of Christians for the twilight of 



SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 237 

natural viftues to expand into the full radiance of Christian purity 
and joy. The divine life in the soul is a heavenly exotic, and 
sanctification is the result of the Spirit's operation. " Not of 
works, lest any man should boast," is an inspired dictum, which 
receives unqualified indorsement from all who belong to the ** new 
creation." 

In the case of Ernest Bray, the change in his character was so 
apparent that no one could question the fact of the divine agency 
by which it was wrought. It is true, the precise moment of the 
change cannot be determined, nor can we indicate the special 
circumstance which culminated in his conversion. From the time 
of his. admission to the Orphanage he was the object of Christian 
solicitude and prayer, and the subject of Christian instruction and 
training. Twice every day all the boys assemble for family wor- 
ship, when a text is repeated from memory, the Word of God read 
and expounded, addresses delivered, and prayer offered. On 
Wednesday evening a special service is held, the salvation of the 
boys being the supreme aim of the friends who x:onduct it; and 
on Sundays the following plan is adopted : In the morning one 
detachment is sent to the Tabernacle, another to W^nne Road 
Baptist Chapel, and a special service is held at home for the 
remainder. In the afternoon a Sunday-school is held, the boys 
being taught in classes by friends interested in the institution. In 
the evening a separate service is arranged for the elder boys, the 
younger ones spending the time with their matrons in their respec- 
tive houses. During the week also all the members of the staff 
" watch for their souls as those who must give an account," and 
the Bible is a text-book in all the classes of the school. In all 
these arrangements human instrumentality is consecrated to the 
work of soul-winning and Christian nurture, and our Heavenly 
Father is graciously pleased to bless all the means employed, so 
that " he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." 
Of one thing we are fully assured, that however numerous and 
distinct the agencies, " God giveth the increase." To Him, there- 
fore, be all the glory. 

In the latter half of the year 1879 it became evident that Bray 
would not survive the winter, his lungs betraying deep-seated dis- 



238 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

ease. He was very reluctant to enter the infirmary, and bravely 
tried, as consumptives usually do, to conceal his worst fears re- 
specting himself. For some time after his admission the buoy- 
ancy of a child's hope threw the thought of death into the shade, 
but at length the conviction gained strength that his end was not 
far distant. The loving ministry of his constant attendant became 
more and more welcome, and as his hope of salvation deepened 
into a settled conviction, and the '' peace of God " shed a holy 
calm over his spirit, he conversed freely of the preciousness of 
Jesus and the prospect of being '' for ever with the Lord." His 
face soon betrayed the secret of his soul's experience, revealing, 
as in a mirror, the tranquillity of peace and the ecstasy of joy. 
He said to one of his playmates, who came to see him bn his 
return from the Christmas holidays : " Do you see any difference 
in my face?" *' Yes," he replied; "it is thinner." "Oh," he 
replied, " that is not what I mean ! Don't you see it looks more 
shining? " " Beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord," he 
was being changed into the same image, and he was conscious 
of the transformation. He often remarked, " I have sunshine 
to the bottom of my heart." One morning he was singing very 
softly to himself, and one of the boys remarked : " I know why 
you feel happy just now; it is because the sun is shining! " Bray 
replied: "It's not that;, it is something inside! Jesus!" On 
another occasion he said : " I do love to talk about Jesus ; it 
makes me so happy. I did not begin to love Jesus until I came 
into the infirmary. I have loved Him ever since, but not half so 
much as I do now. The Lord makes me happy all day and all 
night. I don't mind the long nights as I did, because Jesus is 
near me." " I want to sing," he remarked to a loving friend who 
was visiting him, " but I can't ! " She said : " Well, you will raise 
a loud note when you enter heaven, won't you ? " He replied : 
" Ah, I shall sing there ! I sing now, inside; but I shall sing out 
loud then, and wait and watch for you to come ! " 

Much of his time was spent in prayer. Entering the room one 
morning, the nurse heard him say: " So happy! so happy! Oh, 
Lord, may this be a glorious day ! Let me praise Thee ! Bless 
all the boys ! May they love Jesus ! Forgive all my sins for 




Infirmary — Stockwell Orphanage. 



SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 239 

Thy Son's sake ! " Not a day passed, as he heard the boys at 
play, without a prayer for their conversion, and as he lay awake 
with pain during the long hours of the night his heart went forth 
in earnest supplication that God would bless and save his com- 
panions. He said to the nurse who was with him : " I do want 
to do something for Jesus. Oh, I know ! I will try to write to 
my brother. I do want him to love the Lord ! " He then wrote 
the following letter : — 

Dear Brother, — ■ I have much pleasure in writing these few 
lines to tell you how the Lord has made me so happy. I used to 
think I loved and trusted the Lord enough, but something made 
me feel I must love Him more. If I was strong, oh, how I would 
work for Jesus ! I hope and trust this letter may be the means of 
making you happy in the Lord. Tell aunt how very happy I am. 
Good bye, trusting we both shall meet in heaven. 

Your loving brother, 

Ernest Bray. 

Added to his prayerfulness and anxiety for others, his patience 
in enduring pain was another evidence of his thorough conver- 
sion. As he lay, week after week, with declining strength, so that 
the weight of his bed-clothes became at length a burden, and he 
w^as unable to shift his position without assistance, not a murmur 
escaped his lips. Any little service rendered by his loving attend- 
ants evoked a cheerful smile or a grateful *' Thank you ! God bless 
you ! " How much is true piety seen in these little things ! They 
may not strike the reader, but those who actually see the gracious 
patience and gratitude know how to appreciate them. He said to 
Miss A., one of the teachers, a few days before his departure : " I 
have been so worried this morning; Satan came to me and said: 
'What's the use of j/^?/ trusting? ' but God gave me the victory 
over him, and I am happy now." She then quoted the lines, — 

" Sin, my worst enemy before, 

Shall vex my eyes and ears no more ; 
My inward foes shall all be slain, 
Nor Satan break my peace again : " 

and the thought of his final and complete triumph over sin and 
Satan cast a flush of victory over his face. " He then thanked me 



240 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H, SPURGEON. 

SO gratefully," this friend writes, ''and, putting his thin arms round 
me, kissing me many times, he said : ' Oh, I do love Jesus and 
you ! You are all such kind friends to me, and I feel Mr. Charles- 
worth is a father to me. But do pray for me that I may go soon.'" 
He added to the same friend : " I wish I had strength to do some- 
thing for nurse; she has done so much for me." With what little 
strength he could command he tried to sing a simple impromptu 
couplet, after the manner of the Jubilee Singers, — 

" Oh, come along with me to Jesus ; 
Oh, nurse, come along ! " 

Mrs. C. said to him, as she sat by his bedside : *' You will soon be 
home." Putting his thin hand on her face, he exclaimed : " Oh, 
Mrs. C, I do hope I shall, — I am ready; " and then he added: 
" I will give you another smile." Before she left she kissed him, 
and said : '' If we find you gone we shall not sorrow ; it will be 
your gain." He very sweetly replied : " I should be sorry for 
you to sorrow ; I shall be free from pain ; safe at home." So 
certain was his conviction that he would soon be home that he 
said one day: "I should like a sandwich, and then I don't want 
anything more on this earth." 

There is a charm about the sweet simplicity of faith and hope 
which makes the religion of childhood a type of piety worthy of 
imitation. With all the eloquence of pathos Jesus took a little 
child and said, as He placed him in the midst of the bystanders, 
who had conceived a very different ideal : *' Except ye be con- 
verted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." When the sterner virtues of manhood are 
toned by the feminine graces of childhood the perfection of Chris- 
tian character is attained. 

While Mr. Spurgeon was in Mentone, Bray was very anxious to 
write and tell him how happy he was in Jesus. The following was 
the letter he sent : — 

Infirmary, Stockwell Orphanage. 

Dear Mr. Spurgeon, — As Dr. Wylie said he was going to 
Mentone, I thought I should like to send you a few lines. The 
last time you saw me you thought I should soon be in heaven, 
and you asked the Lord if you could soon be there too, but the 



SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 24 1 

Lord has spared us both ; and may the Lord soon bring you back 

again to serve and praise Him. I can't do much for Jesus, but I 

am trying to bear patiently all I have to suffer. I am still in bed, 

and I feel I can't write any more. 

From one of your orphan boys, 

E. Bray. 

To which Mr. Spurgeon replied : — 

Mentone, February 5. 

Dear Bray, — I was so pleased with your little note. It was 
so good of you, with all your pain, to sit up and write to me. I 
hope when the spring weather comes you will feel better, but if 
not, you know of the " sweet fields beyond the swelling flood " 
which " stand dressed in living green." The Lord Jesus will be 
very near you. He feels for dear suffering children. He will 
keep you patient and joyful. Oh, how He loves ! If there is any- 
thing you want, be sure to let me know. 

Your loving friend, 

C. H. Spurgeon. 

On the pastor's return he came to see him, and the visit seemed 
to yield an equal pleasure to each. The dear boy was full of 
gratitude to his kind friend and benefactor, and expressed himself 
with touching simplicity and clearness as to his faith and hope and 
joy. He talked with all the freedom of a veteran believer whose 
long experience of the goodness and faithfulness of God had made 
doubt impossible and faith a natural impulse. Calling the nurse 
to his side, Bray requested her to give him his purse, and taking 
out four shillings which he had saved, he asked Mr. Spurgeon to 
accept it for the Girls' Orphanage. Such an expression of grati- 
tude was very welcome to the pastor's heart, and, we doubt not, the 
offering was acceptable to *' The Father of the fatherless," whose 
smile has always rested upon the institution. We suggested that a 
portion of one of the new houses should be built with the money, 
and be called " Bray's bricks," as an appropriate memorial of 
" a folded lamb." 

In the course of the interview he said to Mr. Spurgeon : " Do 
you remember I once came to your house with another boy, and 
you asked us if we could eat a piece of plum-cake?" It is not 

16 



242 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

surprising the pastor confessed he had forgotten this special in- 
stance of kindness, and after admitting the fact, he said to him, 
*' And can you eat a piece of plum-cake now? " We shall not soon 
forget how the child's eyes brightened as he replied, " Yes ; but 
only a piece of yours!' It is scarcely necessary to add that a cake 
was promised, and that the following morning it was duly for- 
warded, Mr. Spurgeon sending at the same time some crystallized 
violets and rose-leaves from Mentone. A very touching prayer 
from the pastor closed the interview, and kissing the little sufferer, 
he promised to carry a request to the prayer-meeting, and ask the 
elders to join in prayer for the conversion of all the boys. The 
message was duly delivered, and the assembly engaged in prayer 
in response to the expressed wish of the little sufferer. The 
following Monday he sent a piece of the cake to the elders, with 
the message : '' Tell them I want them all to pray for me to-night, 
that I may soon go home. Ask Mr. Spurgeon to pray for me 
too ; and ask him to pray for all the other boys in the Orphanage, 
that they may meet me in heaven." And then he added, " Oh, I 
do long to go home ! " Poor dear boy, the weariness and languor 
which come from the wasting of disease and long wakefulness 
intensified his longing for ** the rest that remaineth." Nor was it 
the craving for rest merely which directed his soul heavenward ; 
he said to Mr. Bartlett, who visited him on several occasions : 
" How good of God to bless me, a poor weak boy ! Oh, how 
happy it makes me ! I long now. to be with Jesus, and I hope He 
will soon take me, for / want to see His face ! " The highest 
aspiration of an advanced saint never reached beyond this — to 
find the fulness of heaven's bliss in the vision of the face of Jesus. 
On the eve of his departure his soul went out in the prayer: 
"■ Dear Lord, do come soon ! Jesus, come quickly ! Take me ! " 
With a peculiar emphasis he seemed to read the text: ** When 
my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me 
up! " During the last night of his sojourn here, the hours wore 
wearily away, and the twilight of the early morn had scarcely 
chased the lingering shadows from the landscape, when it became 
evident that another and a brighter day was dawning, which would 
never be succeeded by night. 



SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 243 

The friend who had watched him during the first part of his 
illness, and whose loving ministry had been greatly blessed to him, 
was early at his bedside. The first request he proffered was, 

" Don't leave. Miss M ! I can't live through the day ! " He 

meant he could not live here ; he well knew that life in its fulness 
awaited him in the bright awakening beyond. When his posture 
was changed to afford him temporary ease, he lay in silence for a 
few seconds, and then repeated the consoling message which had 
reached his spirit as by an angel's whisper: ^' My lamb, it's 7iearly 
over.'' Oh, the infinite tenderness which that message breathes ! 
Jesus was very near, and the mantle of His dear love was thrown 
around the sufferer, enfolding him as in an armor of triple steel, to 
ensure immunity from the darts of the enemy. All heaven stood 
revealed to his enraptured gaze, and the ward of the Orphanage 
Infirmary proved again the vestibule of the eternal home. ''There 

He is, Miss M ! There 's Jesus ! and Cockerton ! and Dicky ! " 

was his rapturous exclamation as " things seen and temporal " 

were fading from his vision. ** Can't you seem Him, Miss M ? 

Oh, look, they're all around my bed ! " " It seemed impossible to 
him that the eyes of the watchers by his bed could be closed 
against the glories of such a transfiguration scene. He wanted 
all about his bed to enjoy the blessedness of the beatific vision, 
and they, too, shared the same desire. Though the lips did not 
give it expression, each heart breathed the prayer : " Let my last 
end be like his." With the sting of death gone, the terror of the 
grave vanished, heaven open, Jesus near, and angels waiting, no 
wonder he exclaimed, with almost his last breath : " Happy ! 
happy ! happy ! " In a few minutes all was over, and another 
trophy of grace had joined the company of the redeemed in 
heaven. As the spring sun shone forth just then, cheering with 
his bright rays the world which during the winter had been envel- 
oped in fog, nature seemed to say to us : Life's winter months are 
over now, and the everlasting spring has come ; the night of weep- 
ing is ended, and the morning of joy has dawned. To the vision 
of our faith the pathway to heaven stood revealed, and in the 
ecstasy of the moment we could hear the sweet echoes of the 
greeting in the world beyond, — 



244 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

"Come in, thou blessed, sit by Me ; 
With My own hfe I ransomed thee ; 

Enjoy My perfect favor: 
Come in, thou ransomed spirit, come, 
Thou now must dwell with Me at home ; 
Ye blissful mansions, make him room, 

For he must stay forever." 

In his interesting and remarkable book, entitled " Sunlight and 
Shadow; or, Gleanings from my Lifework," * Mr. Gough thus 
describes a day he spent with Mr. Spurgeon : — • 

I would like to give you one incident to illustrate the man in 
his greatness and simplicity. He wished me to visit his Boys' Or- 
phanage at Stockwell. I could go only on Saturday, and his note 
to me was characteristic : 

''Beloved friend, — Although I never go out on Saturdays, my 
horses, being under the law and not under grace, keep the seventh- 
day Sabbath, yet we will arrange to visit," etc. 

A beautiful day it was, for London, as we rode together, chat- 
ting all the way. The history of the Orphanage is intensely inter- 
esting. The commencement was a sum of one hundred thousand 
dollars to Mr. Spurgeon, from a lady, to commence an orphanage 
for fatherless boys. All the money that has been expended 
has been raised by voluntary contributions, and the one hundred 
thousand dollars is invested as an endowment. 

When we entered the grounds, the boys set up a shout of joy 
at the sight of their benefactor. 

I asked, ''What are the requirements for admission?" 

He said, " Utter destitution. Nothing denominational. We 
have more of the Church of England than of the Baptists. 
We have Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, — all 
sorts." 

After the boys had gone through thefr gymnastic exercises 
and military drill, I spoke a few words to them. Mr. Spurgeon 
was like a great boy among boys. 

He said, "There are two hundred and forty boys, — only think! 
How many pence are there in a shilling? " 

* Hartford: A. D. Worthington & Co. 



SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 

" Twelve." 

'' Right. How many shillings in a pound? " 

" Twenty." 

" Right. Twelve times twenty, how many? " 

" Two hundred and forty." 

** That 's a penny apiece each boy." 



245 




BOYS' PLAYGROUND, 

Stockwell, Orphanage, 



" Here, Mr. Charlesworth," handing him a sovereign, " give 
these boys a penny apiece," when a shrill, hearty hurrah was 
given as Mr. Spurgeon turned away with a laugh of keen enjoy- 
ment. 



246 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

''Will you go to the infirmary? We have an infirmary and 
quarantine ; for sometimes the poor creatures we take in need a 
good deal of purifying. We have one boy very ill with consump- 
tion ; he cannot live, and I wish to see him, for he would be 
disappointed if he knew I had been here and had not seen him." 

W^e went into the cool and sweet chamber, and there lay the 
boy. He was very much excited 'when he saw Mr. Spurgeon. 
The great preacher sat by his side, and I cannot describe the 
scene. Holding the boy's hand in his, he said : 

** W^ell, my dear, you have some precious promises in sight 
all round the room. Now, dear, you are going to die, and you are 
very tired lying here, and soon will be free from all pain, and you 
will rest. Nurse, did he rest last night? " 

'* He coughed very much." 

*' Ah, my dear boy, it seems very hard for you to lie here all day 
in pain, and cough at night. Do you love Jesus?" 

'' Yes." 

" Jesus loves you. He bought you with His precious blood, 
and He knows what is best for you. It seems hard for you to lie 
here and listen to the shouts of the healthy boys outside at play. 
But soon Jesus will take you home, and then He will tell you 
the reason, and you will be so glad." 

Then, laying his hand on the boy, without the formality of kneel- 
ing, he said : " O Jesus, Master, this dear child is reaching out his 
thin hand to find Thine. Touch him, dear Saviour, with Thy loving, 
warm clasp. Lift him as he passes the cold river, that his feet be 
not chilled by the water of death , take him home in Thine own 
good tim_e. Comfort and cherish him till that good time comes. 
Show him Thyself as he lies here, and let him see Thee, and know 
Thee more and more as his loving Saviour." 

After a moment's pause, he said, " Now, dear, is there anything 
you would like? Would you like a little canary in a cage, to 
hear him sing in the morning? Nurse, see that he has a canary 
to-morrow morning. Good-bye, my dear; you will see the 
Saviour, perhaps before I shall." 

I have seen Mr. Spurgeon hold by his power sixty-five hundred 
persons in a breathless interest; I knew him as a great man uni- 



SUNSHINE IN THE HEART. 247 

versally esteemed and beloved ; but as he sat by the bedside of a 
dying pauper child, whom his beneficence had rescued, he was to 
me a greater and grander man than when swaying the mighty 
multitude at his will. 

The Stockwell Orphanage receives fatherless boys and girls 
between the ages of six and ten. It is supported by voluntary 
contributions and by the revenue from the capital fund, which 
yields less than one-fourth of the income required. It is con- 
ducted on the Cottage System : each home is presided over by a 
godly matron. It is unsectarian : children are received, irrespec- 
tive of their denominational connection, from all parts of the 
United Kingdom. That the most needy, helpless, and deserving 
may secure the benefits of the institution, candidates are selected 
by the committee, and are not elected by the expensive and ob- 
jectionable process of polling the subscribers. No uniform dress 
is provided, but the children's garments differ, in order that no 
peculiar garb may mark the children with the badge of poverty. 
The children receive a plain but thorough English education 
and training. The supreme aim of the managers is always kept 
in view — to " bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord." 



248 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM IJCX. 

Make haste, O God, my soul to bless, 
My help and my deliverer Thou ! 

Make haste ! for I 'm in deep distress, 
My case is urgent, — help me now ! 

Make haste, O God ! make haste to save ! 

For time is short and death is nigh ! 
Make haste ! ere yet I 'm in my grave, 

And with the lost for ever he. 

Make haste ! for I am poor and low. 
And Satan mocks my prayers and tears; 

O God, in mercy be not slow. 
But snatch me from my horrid fears. 

Make haste, O God, and hear my cries ! 

Then with the souls who seek Thy face, 
And those who Thy salvation prize, 

I '11 magnify Thy matchless grace. 



C. H. Spurgeon. 



XX. 
THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION, 



The Church is God's hospice, where He distributes bread and wine to refresh 
the weary, and entertains wayfarers that else had been lost in the storm. The 
Church is God's hospital, into which He takes the sick, and there He nourishes 
them till they renew their youth hke the eagles. It is God's great Pharos, with 
its lantern flashing forth a directing ray, so that wanderers far away may be 
directed to the haven of peace. But mind, it must be God's Church, and not 
man's. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 



THE object of this association is the increased circulation of 
7'eligioiis and healthy litei^attire among all classes, in order to 
counteract the evil of the vicious publications which abound, and 
which lead to much immorality, crime, and neglect of religion. 

This object is carried out in a twofold manner : 

First, by means of Christian colporteurs, who are paid a fixed 
salary, and devote all their time to the work, visiting every acces- 
sible house with Bibles and good books and periodicals for sale, 
and performing other missionary services such as visitation of the 
sick and dying, and conducting meetings and open-air services as 
opportunities occur. This is the most important method, enabling 
the colporteur to visit every part of the district regularly. 

Second, by means of book agents, who canvass for orders for 
periodicals and supply them month by month ; these receive a 
liberal percentage on the sales to remunerate them for their 
trouble. 

The association is imsectarian in its opei'ations, '' doing work 
for the friends of a full and free gospel anywhere and every- 
where." 

FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 

In a recent sermon on '* Books," the following striking passage 
appears : " The printing-press is the mightiest agency on earth 
for good or evil. The position of a minister of religion standing 
in his pulpit is a responsible position, but it does not appear so 
responsible a position as that of the editor and the publisher. 



252 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Men die, but the literary influences they project go on for ever. 
I believe that God has made the printing-press to be a great agent 
in the world's correction and evangelization, and that the great 
final battle of the world will be fought, not with guns and swords, 
but with types and presses, a gospellized and purified literature 
triumphing over and trampHng under foot and crushing out a 
corrupt literature. God speed the cylinders of an honest, intelli- 
gent, aggressive. Christian printing-press ! " 

To wage this warfare against pernicious literature is the work 
in which this and kindred associations engage. The printing- 
press produces the peaceful weapons and ammunition, while the 
colporteur is the Christian soldier who carries them into the 
conflict. He fires not at random, but, selecting his ground and 
opportunity, aims at the enemy now a Bible or Testament, then an 
attractively illustrated periodical or interesting book, or, failing to 
find a purchaser, will present a tract with a word in season, accom- 
panied by silent prayer. The accompanying reports speak of 
many peaceful victories thus won. The circulation of hurtful 
periodicals and books is immense, but the association thankfully 
records that during the past year it has put into circulation a total 
of 396,291 books and periodicals to the gross value of $37,875, 
while no less than 630,993 visits to families have been made by 
the colporteurs, who have also conducted 6,745 religious services, 
besides frequently praying with the sick and dying. 

The colporteurs are frequently told that but for their visits a 
large number of the people upon whom they call would be 
entirely neglected by any of the ordinary methods or agencies 
employed. 

Reports from Superintendents^ &c., in Districts. 

The Rev. D. W. Purdon writes: ''The colporteur sticks to his 
work like a limpet to the rock. Patiently, perseveringly, and I 
believe very prayerfully, he goes on, increasingly acceptable 
among those among whom he labors, and in every way satisfac- 
torily to those whose eyes are interestedly on him and his work. 

" I see that during the past eleven months he has sold Bibles, 
94; Testaments, 140; books, 4,947; magazines, 2,721; packets, 



THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 253 

cards, &c., 320: total, 8,222. And he has visited 773 families, 
held y^i services, and distributed 4,620 tracts. 

" Now, considering the character of his sphere, and the times 
we have been passing through, I consider this a good eleven 
months' work, which speaks for itself, I cannot say more." 

R. W. S. Griffith, who has had some years' practical experience 
of the working of colportage, writes : " I can only say that 
we have a very active and earnest colporteur; he works hard 
and finds a great pleasure in his work, carrying a smiling face 
to all houses he visits, and finding almost without exception 
a cordial welcome everywhere. He has a very simple but 
impressive manner of stating gospel truths, and his visits are, 
I am sure, calculated to awaken a desire for holy things in 
many hearts ; it has been so in several cases that I have heard 
of, leading, through divine grace, to a decided conversion. He 
is doing a good work, and we all like him. 

'* I am more than ever convinced of the immense practical 
usefulness of the colportage work, and if I could advise any one 
looking out for some branch of work for the Lord which he would 
aid, I would unhesitatingly say : * Choose a district as yet unoccu- 
pied, and send your subscription to the association, so that a 
colporteur might be sent to work there.' Mr. Bellamy, the col- 
porteur, visits seven or eight hundred families every month, 
and takes two or three cottage services every week, and while I 
am writing he has gone in his donkey cart about seven miles to 
take a service this evening; he will hardly get back till ten or 
eleven o'clock. Hoping this year may prove, by God's blessing, 
a very encouraging one to all your men." 

J. S. Hanson writes : " I hope the association is going on 
prosperously; if all were as satisfied about the usefulness of the 
work as we are, they would soon find the means to increase the 
number, till the land was filled with colporteurs." 

A colporteur writes: "In the chapel the Word preached was 
much blessed. The first summer I was here, the place was 
crowded ; soon, however, the screw was put on, and the second 
summer the attendance fell off wonderfully. This past summer 
there was a fair attendance, and lately it has been better, the 



254 LIFE AND LABORS OF- C. H. SPURGEON. 

average being twenty- four or twenty-six, sometimes over thirty 
adults in the evening, but the afternoon service is poorly attended. 
The seals to my ministry are some who have been born again, some 
quickened in the divine life, and others awakened to a sense of their 
need of a Saviour. And now for those upon whom the screw was 
put : these I visit in their own homes in my rounds ; here is where 
the work of a colporteur lies, according to my idea, for with my 
pack on my back, or in my hand, I have an excuse (if one is 
needed in the nineteenth century) to call at all the houses in the 
villages; and here, I may say, eternity alone can reveal the good 
done by the tract given, read, and blessed ! God only knows, of 
the Scriptures read to the sick, of prayers offered at the bedside 
of the afflicted and those appointed to death, of the Word spoken 
to the relations or attendants, of words of cheer and comfort 
spoken to the brethren and sisters in Christ who are cast down, 
phases of whose life none but the colporteur can see ! If you 
ask me. Have you been blessed in this work? Have the re- 
sults justified the outlay? I say Yes, yes, yes!' But there is 
what is called the untabulated results, opposite which we will 
put the Well done, good and faithful servant, and the heavenly 
reward." 

Another testimony: ''Sunday newspapers have been given up 
in some cases, and publications such as ' Sunday at Home,' 
' Weekly Welcome,' and the ' Boys' Own Paper ' purchased in- 
stead. With respect to the sale of Bibles, it may be mentioned 
as an interesting fact that since his residence in this district the 
colporteur has supplied one hundred and fifty volumes of *Cas- 
sell's Family Bible.' He has conducted 139 services on the Lord's 
day, and he himself says that he has never seen so much good 
resulting from his work as he has seen this year; it has been the 
year of his greatest encouragement" 

Another colporteur says : ** My sales in Bibles and Testaments 
for the last quarter exceed the sales at the two depots of the 
Bible Society here for the whole of the last year. I think this 
comparison shows conclusively that the right way to sell the books 
is to take them to the homes of the people. 

" During the past twelve months I have sold 239 Bibles and 



THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 255 

1,229 Testaments. Thank God for past success, but I shall not be 
satisfied uatil I can see a portion of the Word of God in every 
house in my district. 

" I have found out three houses entirely without the Word of 
God, but I did not let them remain so. One of the women said 
she could not afford the money for a Testament; but after I 
talked to her the little daughter said : * Mother, I shall open my 
little bank and pay for it,' so she took it when the httle child paid 
for it. She had been married seven years, and never had God's 
Word in her possession all that time." 

. Prevalence of Evil Literature and its Cure. — " Was told of a 
young female (a governess) who sat in bed reading by candle- 
light some of the most filthy, low, vulgar, pernicious, papers, so 
bad, indeed, that the woman was ashamed to tell me what they 
were ; succeeded in supplying her with. a good magazine. 

" My work is still progressing favorably. Several boys at a 
boarding-school, who used to read bad papers, now take ' Young 
England ' and ' Excelsior ' from me. The teacher told me that 
she was very glad these papers had come out, as her boys used 
to be so fond of bad ones before. 

" In one village which I visit there are several infidel books, and 
several persons have turned infidels through reading them. One 
is a very intelligent, quiet young man, and two were Methodist 
local preachers. Packets of infidel tracts are being sent into the 
villages ; this makes me feel more than ever the pressing need of 
colportage to counteract this evil work. 

*' I am glad to report that through a customer I have succeeded 
in getting a young woman to take the * Girl's Own Paper,* instead 
of a trashy paper. She was so delighted with it that she lent it 
to another young woman, and I expect more orders." 

Conversions through Books. — The number of conversions re- 
ported by the colporteurs through the books sold is too large to 
print the cases in detail ; the following, however, are a fair sample 
of others : — 

"Saving Faith." — "Two persons have been led to the Sav- 
iour through reading this book, — a mother and daughter. I sold 
the book to a Christian woman, she read it, and lent it to one 



256 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

of her neighbors who was ill. Through reading it she was led to 
trust in Jesus as her Saviour, as was her daughter, who had left 
service to nurse her mother. The book was then sent on to 
another daughter, hoping that by its perusal she may share the 
same blessing. The same colporteur speaks of a third case of 
conversion from reading the same book." 

** The Home Beyond." — "A farmer to whom I had previously 
sold ' The Home Beyond,' when I called again, said : ' What a 
beautiful book that '* Home Beyond " is ! I read it, and sent 
it to a relation of mine, who was very ill, fast wasting away in 
consumption, and without having a hope in Christ. She read 
the book I had sent, and it was the means of leading her to the 
Saviour of the lost, and by being able to die a peaceful and happy 
death she testified that she had truly embraced the Saviour.' " 

Gratidtous Tract Distribution audits Results. — Many thousands 
of evangelical tracts are given away by the association, and most 
of the colporteurs report that people receive them readily, and 
that numerous cases of conversion have resulted from their distri- 
bution. Two cases are appended : — 

*' I was showing my books to a gentleman one day ; he had a 
little tract in his hand entitled ' Taken by Surprise.' I offered this 
to a lady who was passing by, and she accepted it. Bless the 
Lord ! it was the means of awakening her to a sense of danger, 
insomuch that she could not find rest until she found it in Jesus. 
She is now believing and rejoicing in His great salvation." 

The Pipe Light. — *' Some time ago I held an open-air meeting 
at one of our villages during the dinner hour of the workmen, as 
I was not permitted to enter the mill. After speaking some time, 
I sold several small books, and gave away about two hundred 
tracts. One of the men screwed the tract up and threw it away, 
but picked it up again and put it into his pocket, thinking it might 
come in to light his pipe. At tea-time, however, having nothing 
else to read, he resorted to the despised tract. It was headed, 
* Stop the Clock.' Before he had finished reading it, he trembled 
from head to foot, and pleaded with God for the forgiveness of 
his sins; from that moment, he tells me, he has felt a changed 
man." 



THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 257 

Mr. Spurgeon's Sermons. — As usual, many of the colporteurs 
have met with instances of the great usefulness of these sermons, 
both in the comfort and instruction of believers and in the salva- 
tion of sinners. A few reports are given : — 

" About twelve months ago a friend of mine leaving for 
America took a good supply of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons. I also 
kept up correspondence, sending other sermons. Having now 
returned, he speaks of the blessings the sermons were to him and 
others while there, where the preaching is quite perfection in the 
flesh. One of these sermons sent was the means of the conver- 
sion of one woman, and of stirring up others to find perfection 
only in Christ Jesus." 

*' In soliciting orders, one woman asked me if I carried any of 
Mr. Spurgeon's works, and when told that I did, seemed pleased, 
bought several of his writings, telling me that although she had 
been a member of a Christian church for years, she never saw the 
gospel in its true light until she read one of Mr. Spurgeon's ser- 
mons. It was not until then that she saw Jesus to be her only 
Saviour, and could rejoice in Him as such." 

Speaking of a young woman who had been in much darkness 
and perplexity about spiritual, things, and seemed to despair of 
mercy, a colporteur writes : " But when I was there in January I 
sold her Mr. Spurgeon's * Loving Advice for Anxious Seekers ' ; 
when I called next month I could see by her countenance that 
there was a change for the better. She then told me that God in 
His mercy had blessed that sermon to her; that it seemed as 
though Mr. Spurgeon must have known of one exactly like her, 
for every word suited her case." 

Prayer under the Hedge. — "The old man was standing in the 
sunny side of the hedge on the roadside. I went to him ; and on 
offering a tract he said : * I cannot read ; ' I then spoke to him 
of sin and death, of salvation and the Lord Jesus. I appealed 
to him as to a dying man, beseeching him to prepare to meet the 
good God whom he had been living without these upwards of 
eighty years ; he trembled as one shivering on the brink of eter- 
nity and fearing to launch away, which, according to the nature 
of things, I assured him he must soon expect to do. Down aside 

17 



258 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the hedge we both got on our knees, and with hberty of soul ear- 
nestly besought that the converting grace and power of the Holy 
Ghost may be poured upon him that he may be enligiitened and 
saved. Knowing now where he lives, I shall hope, if God spares 
him and me, ere long to see him again and to see him saved of 
the Lord." 

Preaching the Gospel from House to House. — *' I have much 
encouragement in the Colportage work. I find some of the peo- 
ple very willing to hear the Word of God. Some days I have had 
what I should term a cottage meeting. Where I have found four 
and five people in one house I have read, prayed, and sung for 
about a half-hour. Passing on to another house, where I have 
found another group, I spent another half-hour. I have had five, 
some days six, little meetings with the people ; at such times the 
Master has been with us, and much good has been done." 

Addressing the Colliers, October 2d. — " Gave a short address 
to a company of colliers ; was received with welcome and delight. 
Spoke to them about the leper going to Jesus. Told them that 
we had hearts diseased by sin and wicked works, and they needed 
cleansing. That we could not do anything to merit our salva- 
tion, but we could plead the merits of Jesus Christ; and that He 
was as willing to cleanse them as when He cleansed the leper, if 
they opened their hearts to receive Him. They expressed grat- 
itude for speaking to them, and thanked me very much; said I 
had done them good. Since then two of them have joined the 
Salvation Army. I believe I have been instrumental in God's 
hands of their salvation ; they thanked me for going." 

The Colporteur's Sabbath. — " Visited about fifty homes with 
tracts, and spoke a few words where I could. Sunday-school, 
2.30; gave an address to teachers and scholars. Preached at a 
lodging house at 5.30, and at Gospel Hall 6.30, and again in the 
Market at 8.35 ; then visited some sick people. 

'' On Sundays I always endeavor to get among the groups of 
men at the corners, and wait on them at closing time, coming out 
of the public-houses, to present them with a tract, and persuade 
them to observe the Sabbath; not only have I been successful 
with individuals, but in two cases of which I have heard whole 




Colporteur and Bible Carriage. 



THE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION. 250 

families have been induced to attend regularly the means of grace 
on the Sabbath day. To God be the glory." 

PrcacJiing Services by the Colporteurs. — According to their abil- 
ity and opportunity many of the colporteurs are regularly engaged 
preaching the gospel both in the open air and as *' supplies " for 
various denominations. Much bles'sing rests upon this, which may 
be called the extra work of a colporteur. A few reports are given 
of this department of service : — 

Conversion Work. — " The preaching of the Word has been 
much blessed this last few months. One poor woman told me in 
a meeting that the Lord had made her so unhappy about her soul 
that she could not v/ork. She then went down on her knees and 
prayed as best she could, and the Lord had showed her the differ- 
ence between believing about Christ and believing in Christ, which 
I had been talking about the last Sunday. She said : * I have 
been trying to get Christ and heaven by doings, but now I see it 
is a done work, and I can say I am in Christ and Christ in me.* 
Two others have just been brought to know the Lord, and several 
drunkards have become sober men, who a little time ago would 
curse the name of such a man as myself. 

'' There' are many things to encourage me. My speaking at the 
chapel and Sunday-school, and other places, is very acceptable. 
The congregations have increased, and a greater earnestness is 
manifested by those who love the Lord, and it has been our joy 
to hear the cry of the penitent sinner for mercy. One man, in 
good circumstances, came to me at the close of a Sabbath evening 
service and asked to be remembered in prayer. I visited him the 
next. day and talked 'and prayed with him, and I believe he is now 
a saved man. He is very regular at the week-night service, and 
it is good to hear him pray. We have three stand proposed for 
membership, and another was crying for mercy last Thursday 
night in the meeting, and I believe the Spirit of God is working 
upon the hearts of several others." 

The Colporteur and Temperance. — "I am pleased to inform you 
that the book ' John Ploughman's Pictures ' has been the means 
of leading one man to give up the drink, and since that has joined 
the Congregationalists, and he wishes me to tell Mr. Spur- 



260 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

geon that he owes his conversion to God through reading that 
book. 

*' On entering a pubHc-house I found several men drinking. I 
began to talk to them of the necessity of being decided for Christ. 
The landlady came and sat down with the men ; I then tried to 
show them what the Saviour had done for them and how He loved 
them. The landlady wept like a child. It seems as if they can stand 
as many oaths and curses as can be put upon them, but, thank 
God ! they cannot stand to be told of the love of Jesus without 
feeling uncomfortable, especially the baser sort of people. I find 
that the name of Jesus has a power when everything else has 
failed : angels and men before Him fall, and devils fear and fly. 

*' Another very interesting case was one day in going to^ a vil- 
lage. Just as I got to the village there came a dreadful storm of 
thunder and lightning and rain, and the first house I came to was 
a public-house. I ran into this house for shelter, and found it full 
of men drinking and gambling, with much swearing. I had .not 
been in many minutes before one asked me what I had to sell ; I 
at once put my pack on the table and showed what I had. They 
soon gave over swearing, and I spoke to them and tried to sell 
them a book each. I sold one ' John Ploughman's 'Talk,' and 
another at a shilling, and a few little books, and a number left the 
house before I did, and went home in the rain ; when the rain gave 
over a bit I started for home without calling at any more houses. 
I came home with a light heart, though wet through with water." 

During the year 1880 there were seventy-nine colporteurs in the 
field. They sold 105,114 books and 272,698 magazines, besides 
distributing gratuitously 794,044 tracts, and making 630,993 vis- 
its. Who can tell with what results? Surely here is work enough 
for one man to superintend, yet it is only a branch of the great 
tree which Pastor Spurgeon has planted. 



XXI. 
THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. 



It was an old Pythagorean maxim, " Sepiam ne edito/' Never eat the aittle- 
Jish. The cuttle-fish has the power, of emitting a black liquid which dyes 
the water and enables it to conceal itself. Have nothing to do with those who 
darken all around them, that they themselves may be unseen ; honest men love 
light, and only the evil find darkness to be congenial. When an author is too 
obscure to be understood^ leave Jiini till he knows hoiv to write ; when a preacher 
is mystical, high-flown, sophistical, shun him, for it is most hkely he labors to 
conceal some latent heresy; when a man's poHcy is deep and artful, flee from 
him, for he means no good. No deceiver or double-tongued man must be 
admitted within the circle of your confidence. Remember the advice, Never eat 
a cuttle-fish. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. 



THIS Record of " Combat with Sin and Labor for the Lord " 
has closed its seventeenth volume. Eighteen years ago 
Mr. Spurgeon felt the necessity of having a channel of com- 
munication between himself and his many correspondents and the 
numerous friends who became interested in his work. But the 
magazine is more than a record of work done; it is an earnest 
advocate of every legitimate endeavor to win men to the Saviour, 
and in addition furnishes able expositions of Scripture. Mr. Spur- 
geon in a very remarkable manner combines the Word and the 
Work: the Work with him must be the outcome of the Word. 
We meet in this monthly magazine with stirring articles of great 
merit, with brief sermons deeply spiritual, with helpful lectures 
and suggestions to Christian workers, with notes on men and 
events worthy of study. Unique in itself, this magazine is entirely 
free from sensational productions and sentimental reading. It is 
not an advocate of sect or party, and certainly not a cudgel for 
the Editor with which to beat out the brains of opponents. Its 
pages are laden with- choice fruits ; it is spiritual, solid, emotional, 
pathetic, and humorous. But the vein of humor carries in it the 
real and substantial, as the rough ore holds the precious metal. 
Interesting, instructive, profitable, we never meet with an empty 
paragraph or a wasted word in this journal. The ordinary reader is 
not puzzled by scholastic expressions unnecessarily introduced, nor 
diverted from facts by a bombastic style, which, like a wordy 
address before a jury, may lead twelve men in their befogged con- 
dition to hang an innocent man. But the scholar will also find food 
for thought and solid instruction within its pages. The readers of 



264 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

''The Sword and the Trowel" are found among the ministers and 
members of all denominations at home and in foreign lands. 

The first number of the Eighteenth Volume lies upon our table. 
Its cover is familiar to our eyes, having scanned its pages for many 
years. The first article of this number, by the Editor himself, we 
commend to the timid and hopeless. Its title, ''Unto the End," 
suggests one secret of Mr. Spurgeon's success. He encourages 
perseverance in every good and laudable work, and shows that 
many projects perish in their infancy through lack of this grace. 
" Perseverance in itself is admirable, but," writes the Editor, "car- 
ried on to the last hour, it will be glorious. Happy and honored 
will he be who endures to the end." 

The second article, by Mr. Charlesworth, the head master of the 
Stockwell Orphanage, is a touching story of a mother seeking a 
lost daughter, and, thinking she had found her standing beneath 
a railway arch, touched her on the shoulder. A strange young 
woman faced the anxious mother, who exclaimed by way of apol- 
ogy, "Oh, I thought it was my daughter!" The words reached 
the tender spot in this poor crushed girl, who quickly responded, 
" I wish I had a mother to come after me ! " The motherly instinct 
was called into play when thus accosted, and the grieved parent 
took this poor stranger child to her own home. 

The third article, " Religion in the Eighteenth Century," is based 
on Dr. John Stoughton's book, and is worthy of perusal. 

"Launching Out," by Thomas Spurgeon, is a very enjoyable 
exposition of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
The following paragraph indicates the drift of the article : " He 
who learns to swim may keep one foot upon the bottom of the 
bath ; but the precaution which insures his safety in the shallows, 
means destruction in the deep waters. He who wants to keep one 
foot on the bottom in mid ocean had better make up his mind to 
keep both there. In the matter of salvation it is either sink or 
swim. Have a single self-confidence and we sink ; the waters are 
too deep for us to touch the bottom ; trust in Jesus only, and we 
swim, upheld by His strong arm and loving hand." In illustrat- 
ing the gospel, Thomas Spurgeon has shown himself a worthy 
son of a worthy sire. 



THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. 265 

Next we have two hymns, one for the New Year, and one " All 
Glory." Then follows an article on the Jesuits. This class of 
ferrets with all their brood, who are always nosing around after 
game, are never spared by the sturdy London preacher; the shave- 
lings of Rome are his abomination. He abhors the thought of a 
sinning human being standing as mediator between the sinner and 
his God ; and those who arrogate to themselves the office of inter- 
ceding priests are roughly handled by Mr. Spurgeon. 

A few pages of the magazine are devoted to a very touching 
story entitled, " Jock and his Mither." We were not satisfied to dip 
into it here and there, but read it through even in the midst of 
pressing engagements. We regretted not having a second hand- 
kerchief at hand, for every line touched our emotions and made 
the tears to flow. We only wish that in our preaching we could 
relate this story with all the pathos and Scotch accent with which 
"Jock" told about his ''mither." 

As we turn over a few pages more we light upon " Journal Jot- 
tings and the Hop-picker's Mission," by John Burnham, the Taber- 
nacle evangelist. The hop-pickers are a depraved class, widely 
neglected except when such men as Mr. Spurgeon's evangelist 
go forth to tell them of Jesus and His love. And these beloved 
missionaries are always rewarded in having conversions among this 
debased class, whose subsequent chaste and temperate lives prove 
the reality of their conversion. 

Next come ten pages of book-notices, followed by " Personal 
Notes " of the College, the colporteurs' work, and the Orphanage ; 
of Mr. Spurgeon's movements from month to month, and interest- 
ing anecdotes of the results of his sermons coming from various 
parts of the wide world. Each number of the magazine devotes a 
few pages to the acknowledgment of money and goods sent by sub- 
scribers and friends for the various branches of work carried on. 

We here append Mr. Spurgeon's preface to the seventeenth 
volume, which summarizes the work accomplished and indicates 
the usefulness of the magazine, besides his unwearied and con- 
scientious labors as editor, with a few of those pungent, crisp 
articles, showing that consummate wit for which the writer has 
become a universal favorite. 



266 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Kind Readers, — Throughout another year you have sus- 
tained the magazine ; and as very many of you have expressed 
your satisfaction, and few, if any, have favored me with a com- 
plaint, I feel encouraged to believe that you have been pleased 
with my monthly issues. It was once observed in my hearing by 
a friend who wished to account for my fulfilment of numerous 
duties, that as for the magazine, it was a merely nominal thing to 
be the editor, for few editors ever saw their magazines till they 
were in print. However this may be as a rule, it does not contain 
a spark of truth in my case, for I have personally superintended 
every page, and I do not think a single line of the magazine 
has passed through the press without having been read by me. 
Whether I succeed or not, I certainly do not delegate my task to 
others. If I had more leisure I am sure I could do better, and it 
is with unfeigned satisfaction that I find my subscribers contented 
with what I can procure for them. 

" The Sword and Trowel " has been the happy means of uniting 
in gracious service a band of gracious givers and workers, who now 
for these seventeen years have joined to aid the institutions which, 
though they locally surround the Tabernacle, are really the off- 
spring of a congregation which is found scattered throughout all 
lands. By means of this warm-hearted brotherhood the Pastors' 
College has been sustained from year to year, until some six hun- 
dred, ministers have been educated in it, the most of whom are 
still faithfully preaching the old-fashioned gospel in which they 
have been trained. In connection with this enterprise three breth- 
ren have been supported as evangelists, and their itinerant labors 
have been signally successful. Testimonies that churches have 
been aroused and sinners converted by their means, have been 
plentifully sent in, and these pages have been increased in interest 
thereby. Hundreds of thousands have heard the gospel through 
this instrumentality. 

The Stockwell Orphanage originated through an article in this 
magazine, and from time to time its support has been mainly sup- 
plied by its readers. During the past year the houses for the 
girls' side have been completed and partly furnished ; and at the 
present time the first detachment of little ones has entered into 



THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. 26/ 

occupation. More remains to be done by way of furniture for 
other houses, and the further contracts for the infirmary, baths, and 
outbuildings have to be met; but it is a great comfort to have seen 
the project so far in progress, and to feel assured that all that is 
yet required will be forthcoming in its season. The bazaar which 
is so soon to be held will, we hope, secure the amount needed to 
bring the enterprise up to- the next stage, and then we may lay our 
plan for the final outlay on the chapel of the Orphanage, and a 
few other necessaries. All that has been done has been accom- 
plished without personal solicitation, or the allotment of votes, or 
the dissemination of heart-rending appeals : it has sufficed to lay 
the case before the Lord in prayer, and then to mention it to His 
people in plain and earnest terms, and the funds have come in 
with marvellous regularity, the larger amounts having been timed to 
meet the hour of need as exactly as if the whole went by clock- 
work. The hand of the Lord is in this thing, and to Him be glory. 
That this institution has brought honor to God is plain enough, 
for many a time those who would have abused our ministry have 
admitted that a good work has been wrought, and have had no 
heart to revile. There is a something about orphan work which 
wins the sympathy of the most careless, and none can tell till the 
last great day how many have been by this means led to think 
well of the gospel, and next to hear it and experience its power. 

The Colportage Association has held on its most useful course. 
It has been sustained with difficulty, for somehow it does not 
chime in with the tastes and views of large donors, but its influence 
for good is second to no existing agency. Where there are not 
enough dissenters to support a minister, or where ministers are un- 
able to cover large and scattered districts, the colporteur makes his 
way with his pack, and speaks a word for Jesus at every door, either 
by personal conversation or by leaving a tract. Besides this, he 
preaches by the roadside or in village chapels, gets up temperance 
meetings, visits the sick, and above all sells good books. This 
society, and several other useful works, report themselves in these 
pages, a^d enlist good friends thereby. 

Mrs. Spurgeon's Book Fund quietly pursues its beneficent course. 
It is putting sound theology just now upon the shelves of many 



268 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

a poor curate and ill-paid minister, and this it does so largely that 
it would be a miracle of a strange sort if it did not greatly affect 
the ministry of the day. That the sermons distributed and the 
" Treasury of David " furnish material for preachers is saying very 
little : that they have evangelized the tone of many has been con- 
fessed in numerous instances, and is true of far more. 

Brethren and sisters, you have aided me so far in a benevolent 
enterprise of no small dimensions, and I hope I have in no degree 
lost your loving confidence. Continue, then, to bear me up in your 
prayers, and to sustain me by your contributions. More can be 
done, and more should be done. Every living work is capable of 
growth; every work which has God's blessing upon it is under 
necessity to advance. Our watchword still is forward. Possibly 
we cry forward more often than pleases those who lag behind. 
Some time ago I asked for men and means to send evangelists to 
India ; one man only offered, and that one man was sent. Up till 
now I have had sufficient money, and I believe that when more 
men offer I shall have larger funds ; but here is room for prayerful 
uplooking to the Lord. Brethren, pray for us. I would fain live 
to the utmost of my own life, and I would draw out from all my 
brethren more and more for God's glory by the propagation of the 
gospel, the alleviation of suffering, and the arousing of the Church. 
Thanks to all helpers, and a thousand blessings. 



We notice in an American newspaper a letter signed " The 
Hornless Deacon." There is no accounting for our Transatlantic 
cousins, but what can the good man mean by such a title? A 
hornless buffalo or a hornless cow we could understand, but what 
is the reason for applying that adjective to a deacon? We have 
been lying back in our most serious armchair, and have been 
revolving in our meditative soul the various senses which can be 
drawn out of this expression, or imputed to it; but we cannot 
make head or tail of it, and without a head there may well be no 
horns. The owner of the signature is evidently a deacon, and 
therefore he must be fully aware that deacons do not possess 
horns and hoofs. Some pastors, when hardly driven, have thought 



THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. 269 

they did, but this was a clerical error. We believe that all evil 
reports about deacons arise from nightmare, and are slanderous 
and absurd ; but still they do arise, and therefore this good deacon 
may have felt it necessary in his own case to assert that he had 
no horns, and was not related to any individual whose head is thus 
adorned. Had not deacons been a much-abused order of men 
the foul insinuation as to horns would never have cropped up, and 
none of the race would have found it needful to claim to be horn- 
less. Our own opinion is that when deacons have horns it will 
generally be found that the minister has a tail. There is six of 
one and half-a-dozen of the other in most cases of disagreement 
between the two classes of church-officers. 

We would earnestly hope, however, that our friend *' The Horn- 
less Deacon " had no thought of the Evil One, but simply meant 
to say that he was not a fighting man, but was of necessity peace- 
ful because he had no provision in his nature for making an 
attack. 

A horn is an offensive weapon, and a hornless deacon is one 
who cannot give offence, resent an injury, or inflict a wound. 
What a splendid acquisition to a quarrelsorne church ! He would 
be sure to rule well, and reduce chaos to order by the mere force 
of Christian patience. Few men believe in the power of non- 
resistance, but our faith in it is unbounded : he who can yield 
will conquer, and he who will suffer most for the sake of love will 
wield the greatest power if he will but bide his time. The longest 
horns that were ever borne aloft will yet be broken by the sub- 
mission of " the hornless." To be utterly unable to give offence 
to anybody would be a sublime incapacity, most useful in these 
ticklish days, when nine people out often are ready to take offence 
where none is intended. We hope **The Hornless Deacon" is not 
such a gentle, inoffensive body that he would let people forget 
quarter-day and their subscriptions, or would allow the minister 
to draw twice the amount of his salary. This would be carrying 
a virtue to an extreme, and would be a grave fault, especially in 
the latter case. We are bound to add that we have never met 
with such a want of principle as would be implied in this instance : 
the former error is far more common. The kind, gentle, but 



2/0 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

earnest deacon is invaluable. He is as an angel in the church, 
and does more than angel's service. Excellent man ! We can- 
not say, *' May his horn be exalted!" for he has none; but we 
trust that the place where it ought to be will never ache through 
the ingratitude of those whom he serves. 

Feeling that we had not translated this signature satisfactorily, 
and not liking to give it up, we consulted a learned friend, who 
gave us the following elucidation of the mysterious ' title of "The 
Hornless Deacon." We are not quite sure that we believe in it. 
He says that it is the minister's place to carry the horn and blow 
it, and that "The Hornless Deacon" was evidently a non-preacher, 
one who minded his own business, and left his minister to blow 
the ram's horn. We do not think any the better of him for this, 
for we like a man all the more if, like Stephen, he can both care 
for the widows and preach the gospel. It would be well for our 
country churches if more of the deacons would exercise their gifts, 
and keep the village stations supplied with sound doctrine. Our 
learned friend suggests that there may he in the term " hornless 
deacon " a covert allusion to the modesty of the individual who 
never blew his own trumpet, who in fact had not so much as a 
horn of his own to blow. This may be, and it may not be. We 
had excogitated that idea before, and did not feel very proud of 
it, but there may be something in it. Certainly we know of dea- 
cons who from year to year plod away at the pastor's side, glad 
to perform services of any kind so long as God is glorified and 
the Church is prospered. Seldom are their names mentioned in 
public, and yet they are the mainstay of the Church, the regu- 
lators of her order, and the guardians of her interests. Some of 
them have held the fort in troublous times: they have seen a 
dozen pastors come and go, but they abide at their posts, faithful 
imder discouragement, hopeful under difficulty. They deserve 
great praise, and as they are " hornless " we would for once sound 
the horn for them. 

This guess hardly satisfied us, and so our friend gave us another. 
We sometimes drink out of a horn; and a deacon, according to 
the apostle, is not to be " given to much wine." Is it, therefore, 
claimed by our friend that if he erred at all he erred on the right 



THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. 2/ 1 

side, for he had no horn at all, and was a pledged teetotaler? 
Very good, Mr. Deacon ! The more of your brethren who will 
copy you in this the better, so long as they do not make the 
water-jug the symbol of their lives, and pour cold water over 
everything and everybody, in season and out of season. 

This interpretation we feel also to be a failure, and therefore we 
will try once more on our own account. Can it mean that the 
good deacon did not sound a trumpet before him, as the hypo- 
crites do, when he was distributing his alms? Was he so quiet 
in his generosity that not even a penny whistle or child's horn 
proclaimed his deed of liberality? Let him be blessed in secret 
if this was his true character; but surely the very taking of the 
name of " hornless " is a little like blowing a horn. He who 
denies a fault claims a virtue ; did you forget this, my unhorned 
friend ? 

The above expository observations, so far as they come from 
our learned friend, are exceedingly clever, tolerably far-fetched, 
and in all respects worthy of his breadth of forehead ; but they 
do not quite enable us to see through the expression, and we 
abandon it for the present with the consoling reflection that our 
Yankee brethren have a vivacious style of speech which needs 
one of themselves to interpret it. 



The Berkshire proverb says, " There be more ways of killing a 
cat than by choking of him with cream," and surely some preach- 
ers appear to know that there are more ways of wearying a hearer 
than by surfeiting him with good, sound, creamy doctrine. Oh, 
for a sermon with something in it ! Never mind the finicking with 
the cooking and the carving; do give us a cut of gospel truth! 
Alas ! we too often get " Grantham gruel, — nine grits and a gal- 
lon of water," and we are expected to praise the stuff because the 
basin is of rare chifia. There is not enough in it to make soup 
for a grasshopper, and yet we are called upon to go into raptures 
because what there is of it is soundly evangelical. 

At other times the teaching is rather queer and very muddy, 
and then they tell us that the parson gives us little doctrine 



272 LIFE AND LABORS OF C, H. SPURGEON. 

because he is thinking it out and has not yet made up his mind. 
Verily, *' while the grass grows the steed starves," and we should 
be far better off if the Lord would send us some of the old sort 
of experienced men of God, who knew what they did know, and 
fed our fathers with knowledge and understanding. Our modern 
collegians boast of being independent thinkers, and if that means 
that they are not to be depended on they are pretty near the mark. 
They pare down the gospel till, as the Yankees say, " it is shaved 
off finer than the small end of nothing." It is time this nonsense 
was exploded. Lord Byron said, " A book 's a book, although 
there 's nothing in 't ! " but country people do not say so of a 
sermon, and if they did, we are not all bumpkins, and cannot be 
quite so easily satisfied. 



Now is the season for paragraphs in the newspapers concerning 
gooseberries which are twice as large as possible. The wonderful 
information fills up a corner and gratifies the lovers of the mar- 
vellous, besides illustrating a style of writing which is by no means 
rare even among religious people. 

We iiave been surprised to hear of *' a great work" in a place 
where many intelligent residents never heard of any "work" what- 
ever. Accompanied by a plea for funds, we have seen narratives 
which have been written by excellent persons, in which the de- 
scriptive adjectives may have been accurate if judged by the 
standard of their writers, but were certainly inapplicable to the 
matter in hand from any ordinary person's standpoint. We 
thought when we read the article that a whole neighborhood had 
been convulsed if not converted ; but on inquiry of city mission- 
aries and Bible-women we fo^and that nothing particular had 
happened, — at least, nothing so special as to cause excessive 
transports to the most hopeful. 

We wish certain brethren could be taught to speak within 
bounds. The common slang of the day talks of things as 
"awful," "magnificent," "splendid," &c., and this seems to have 
been imported into religious reporting. It is mischievous, how- 
ever, and tends to damage the best of causes. When Christian 



THE SWORD AND THE TROWEL. 273 

people find things overstated they lose confidence, and in the case 
of men of the world it is worse, for they use the exaggeration as 
material for jests. It is always better to be under the mark than 
over it when we are describing good works in which we have had 
a hand. We must not put into print those sanguine ideas of 
things which our hopeful minds create in our excited brains. The 
cause of truth can never be aided by a deviation from truth. We 
may win applause at a public meeting or excite admiration in 
individuals by highly colored descriptions ; but the time comes 
for investigation, and when the coloring vanishes we are sure to 
be held in disrepute by those whom we deceived. The whole 
business of exaggeration is wrong, and must never be tolerated 
in ourselves or encouraged in others ; even the suppression of 
discouraging facts is a doubtful piece of policy, and policy is 
always impolitic in Christian work. 

Brethren who are rather apt to puff, let us wdiisper in your ears, 
leave the monstrous gooseberries to the newspapers, and speak 
every man truth with his neighbor. 



One would hardly have thought it worth an author's while to 
compose a treatise upon "The Art of Tormenting"; yet such a 
book exists, and contains many ingenious instructions by which 
masters, husbands, wives, and friends may torture their servants, 
relatives, and acquaintances to an intolerable degree. To quote 
any of the writer's suggestions in these pages would be useless, 
since none of our readers wish to learn the science of plaguing 
others, The ingenious writer, a lady, by the way, does not 
recommend the clumsy methods of Roman emperors and Popish 
inquisitors, by which it is possible to torment the bodies of men 
and allow the mind and spirit to remain at peace ; but she deals 
with subtler arts, by which the mind can be lacerated beyond all 
cure while yet no w^ound is seen. To torture the heart and spirit 
of a man is far more cruel than to tear his flesh or break his 
bones. One sentiment in this amusing treatise struck us as singu- 
larly instructive to those who are the victims of malicious criti- 
cism ; the author says : " Be very careful daily to observe whether 

18 



274 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

your patient continues in good health, and is fat and well-hken ; 
for if so, you may be almost certain that your whole labor is 
thrown away. As soon, therefore, as you perceive this to be the 
case, you must (to speak in the phrase of surgeons when they 
hack and hew a human body) immediately choose another sub- 
ject. All the pleasure of tormenting is lost as soon as your 
subject becomes insensible to your strokes." We are almost 
reconciled to being corpulent as we read these lines. Herein is 
wisdom. Patience baffles malice : the malicious themselves con- 
fess their defeat ; what can we do better than to offer the passive 
resistance which is seen to be so effective? Let us no longer 
gratify our enemies by taking notice of their cruel observations 
and venomous insinuations. If we are callous we at once, defeat 
them : there can be no virtue in cultivating a sensitiveness which 
makes us vulnerable. The more we smart, the more they will 
scourge ; but a back of leather laughs at the cat-o'-nine-tails. By 
doing our best at all times we shall be able to defy all the criti- 
cisms of on-lookers, who, doing nothing themselves, have all the 
more leisure to find fault with our honest endeavors. In all prob- 
ability we shall never succeed in any one instance in pleasing all 
who call themselves our friends ; and as to our enemies, they will 
never be gratified unless they see us guilty of gross folly ; there- 
fore our wisest course is to make sure of being right in the sight 
of God, and then to proceed in a straight line with firm tread, 
whether we offend or please. The desire to inflict pain is in- 
grained in some natures, and against these there is no defence 
except a manly insensibility. As chemists plunge a fabric in a 
solution of alum and thus enable it to defy the flames, so should 
we immerse ourselves into the consciousness of desiring to do 
right before God, and we shall be superior to the fires of slander. 
We are not able to abate the fury of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace ; 
but if we can walk in the midst of it unharmed, the result will be 
equally harmless and far more sublime. 

Over against the art of tormenting let us set the philosophy of 
enduring; our bane and antidote are both before us. 



XXII. 
EDITORIALS. 



No man is likely to accomplish much who moodily indulges a desponding 
view of his own capacities. By God's help the weakest of us may be strong, 
and it is the way to become so, to resolve never to give uj^ a good work till we 
have tried our best to achieve it. To think nothing impossible is the privilege 
of faith. We deprecate the indolent cowardice of the man who always felt 
assured that every new enterprise would be too much for him, and therefore 
decHned it ; but we admire the pluck of the ploughman who was asked on his 
cross-examination if he could read Greek, and replied he did not know, because 
he had never tried. Those Suffolk horses which will pull at a post till they 
drop are worth a thousand times as much as jibbing animals that run back as 
soon as ever the collar begins to press them. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



EDITORIALS, 



OUR FIRST SERMON. 

WE remember well the first place in which we addressed a 
congregation of adults, and the wood-block which illus- 
trates this number of the magazine sets it clearly before our 
mind's eye. It was not our first public address by a great many, 
for both at Newmarket, and Cambridge, and elsewhere, the Sab- 
bath-school had afforded us ample scope for speaking the gospel. 
At Newmarket especially we had a considerable admixture of 
grown-up folks in the Eiudience, for many came to hear '* the boy" 
give addresses to the school. But no regular set discourse to a 
congregation met for regular worship had we delivered till one 
eventful Sabbath evening, which found us in a cottage at Tever- 
sham, holding forth before a little assembly of humble villagers. 

The tale is not a new one, but as the engraving has not before 
been seen by the public eye we must shed a little light upon it. 
There is a Preachers' Association in Cambridge connected with 
St. Andrew's-street Chapel, once the scene of the ministry of 
Robert Robinson and Robert Hall, and now of our beloved friend 
Mr. Tarn. A number of worthy brethren preach the gospel in 
the various villages surrounding Cambridge, taking each one his 
turn according to plan. In our day the presiding genius was the 
venerable Mr. James Vinter, whom we were wont to address as 
Bishop Vinter. His genial soul, warm heart, and kindly manner 
were enough to keep a whole fraternity stocked with love, and 
accordingly a goodly company of true workers belonged to the 



278 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

association, and labored as true yoke-fellows. Our suspicion is 
that he not only preached himself and helped his brethren, but 
that he was a sort of recruiting sergeant, and drew in young men 
to keep up the number of the host; at least, we speak from 
personal experience as to one case. 

We had one Saturday finished morning school, and the boys 
were all going home for the half-holiday, when in came the afore- 
said " bishop " to ask us to go over to Teversham next Sunday 
evening, for a young man was to preach there who was not much 
used to services, and very likely would be glad of company. 
That was a cunningly devised sentence, if we remember it rightly, 
and we think we do ; for at the time, in the light of that Sunday 
evening's revelation, we turned it over and vastly admired its 
ingenuity. A request to go and preach would have met with a 
decided negative ; but merely to act as company to a good 
brother who did not like to be lonely, and perhaps might ask us 
to give out a hymn or to pray, was not at all a difficult matter, and 
the request, understood in that fashion, was cheerfully complied 
with. Little did the lad know what Jonathan and David were 
doing when he was made to run for the arrow, and as little knew 
we when we were cajoled into accompanying a young man to 
Teversham. 

Our Sunday-school work was over, and tea had been taken, and 
we set off through Barnwell, and away along the Newmarket Road, 
with a gentleman some few years our senior. We talked of good 
things, and at last we expressed our hope that he would feel the 
presence of God while preaching. He seemed to start, and 
assured us that he had never preached in his life, and could not 
attempt such a thing; he was looking to his young friend, Mr. 
Spurgeon, for that. This was a new view of the situation, and I 
could only reply that I was no minister, and that even if I had 
been I was quite unprepared. My companion only repeated that 
/le, even in a more emphatic sense, was not a preacher, that he 
would help 7ne in any other part of the service, but that there 
would be no sermon unless I gave them one. He told me that 
if I repeated one of my Sunday-school addresses it would just 
suit the poor people, and would probably give them more satis- 



EDITORIALS. 279 

faction than the studied sermon of a learned divine. I felt that 
I was fairly committed to do my best. I walked along quietly, 
lifting up my soul to God, and it seemed to me that I could surely 
tell a few poor cottagers of the sweetness and love of Jesus, for 
I felt them in my own soul. Praying for divine help, I resolved 
to make an attempt. My text should be, " Unto you therefore 
which believe He is precious," and I would trust the Lord to open 
my mouth in honor of His dear Son. It seemed a great risk and 
a serious trial; but, depending upon the power of the Holy Ghost, 
I would at least tell out the story of the cross, and not allow the 
people to go home without a word. We entered the low-pitched 
room of the thatched cottage, where a few simple-minded farm- 
laborers and their wives were gathered together; we sang and 
prayed and read the Scriptures, and then came our first sermon. 
How long -or how short it was we cannot now remember. It was 
not half such a task as we had feared it would be, but we were 
glad to see our way to a fair conclusion, and to the giving out of 
the last hymn. To our own delight we had not broken down, nor 
stopped short in the middle, nor been destitute of ideas, and the 
desired haven was in view. We made a finish, and took up the 
book, but to our astonishment an aged voice cried out, "Bless 
your dear heart, ho\y old are you? " Our very solemn reply was, 
" You must wait till the service is over before making any such 
inquiries. Let us now sing." We did sing, and the young 
preacher pronounced the benediction, and then began a dialogue 
which enlarged into a warm, friendly talk, in which everybody 
appeared to take part. " How old are you ? " was the leading 
question. " I am under sixty," was the reply. " Yes, and under 
sixteen," was the old lady's rejoinder. " Never mind my age, 
think of the Lord Jesus and His preciousness," was all that I could 
say, after promising to come again if the gentlemen at Cambridge 
thought me fit to do so. Very great and profound was our awe 
of those " gentlemen at Cambridge " in those days. 

Are there not other young men who might begin to speak for 
Jesus in some such lowly fashion, — young men who hitherto have 
been mute as fishes? Our villages and hamlets off"er fine oppor- 
tunities for youthful speakers. Let them not wait till they are 



280 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

invited to a chapel, or have prepared a fine essay, or have secured 
an inteUigent audience. If they will go and tell out from their 
hearts what the Lord Jesus has done for them, they will find ready 
listeners. 

Many of our young folks want to do great things, and therefore 
do nothing at all; let none of our readers become the victims of 
such an unreasonable ambition. He who is willing to teach 
infants, or to .give away tracts, and so to begin at the beginning, 
is far more likely to be useful than the youth who is full of affec- 
tations and sleeps in a white necktie, who is studying for the 
ministry, and is touching up certain superior manuscripts which 
he hopes ere long to read from the pastor's pulpit. He who talks 
upon plain gospel themes in a farmer's kitchen, and is able to 
interest the carter's boy and the dairymaid, has more of the minis- 
ter in him than the prim little man who talks for ever about being 
cultured, and means by that — being taught to use words which 
nobody can understand. To make the very poorest listen with 
pleasure and profit is in itself an achievement, and beyond this it 
is the best possible promise and preparation for an influential 
ministry. Let our younger brethren go in for cottage preaching, 
and plenty of it. If there is no lay preachers' association, let 
them work by themselves. The expense is not very great for 
rent, candles, and a few forms ; many a young man's own pocket- 
money would cover it all. No isolated group of houses should be 
left without its preaching-room, ho hamlet v/ithout its evening 
service. This is the lesson of the thatched cottage at Teversham. 



TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO. 

Twenty-five years ago we walked on a Sabbath morning, 
according to our wont, from Cambridge to the village of Water- 
beach, in order to occupy the pulpit of the little Baptist Chapel. 
It was a country road, and there were four or five honest miles 
of it, which we usually measured each Sunday foot by foot, unless 
we happened to be met by a certain little pony and cart which 



EDITORIALS. . 28 1 

came half way, but could not by any possibility venture further 
because of the enormous expense which would have been incurred 
by driving through the toll-gate at Milton. That winter's morning 
we were all aglow with our walk, and ready for our pulpit exer- 
cises. Sitting down in the table-pew, a letter was passed to us 
bearing the postmark of London. It was an unusual missive, and 
was opened with curiosity. It contained an invitation to preach 
at New Park-street Chapel, Southwark, the pulpit of which had 
formerly been occupied by Dr. Rippon, — the very Dr. Rippon 
whose hymn-book was then before us upon the table, the great 
Dr. Rippon, out of whose Selection we were about to choose 
hymns for our worship. The late Dr. Rippon seemed to hover 
over us as an immeasurably great man, the glory of whose name 
covered New Park-street Chapel and its pulpit with awe unspeak- 
able. We quietly passed the letter across the table to the deacon 
who gave out the hymns, observing that there was some mistake, 
and that the letter must have been intended for a Mr. Spurgeon 
who preached somewhere down in Norfolk. He shook his head, 
and observed that he was afraid there was" no mistake, as he always 
knew that his minister would be run away with by some large 
church or other, but that he was a little surprised that the Lon- 
doners should have heard of him quite so soon. " Had it been 
Cottenham, or St. Ives, or Huntingdon," said he, " I should not 
have wondered at all ; but going to London is rather a great step 
from this little place." He shook his head very gravely; but the 
time was come for us to look out the hymns, and therefore the 
letter was put away, and, as far as we can remember, was for the 
day quite forgotten, even as a dead man out of mind. 

On the following Monday an answer was sent to London, in- 
forming the deacon of the church at Park Street that he had fallen 
into an error in directing his letter to Waterbeach, for the Baptist 
minister of that village was very little more than nineteen years 
of age, and quite unqualified to occupy a London pulpit. In due 
time came another epistle, setting forth that the former letter had 
been written in perfect knowledge of the young preacher's age, 
and had been intended for him, and him alone. The request of 
the former letter was repeated and pressed, a date mentioned for 



282 LIFE AND LABORS OF C, H. SPURGEON. 

the journey to London, and the place appointed at which the 
preacher would find lodging. That invitation was accepted, and 
as the result thereof the boy preacher of the Fens took his post 
in London. 

Twenty-five years ago — and yet it seems but yesterday — we 
lodged for the night at a boarding-house in Queen Square, Blooms- 
bury, to which the worthy deacon directed us. As we wore a huge 
black satin stock, and used a blue handkerchief with white spots, 
the young gentlemen of that boarding-house marvelled greatly at 
the youth from the country who had come up to preach in London, 
but who was evidently in the condition known as verdant green. 
They were mainly of the evangelical church persuasion, and 
seemed greatly tickled that the country lad should be a pneacher. 
They did not propose to go and hear the youth, but they seemed 
to tacitly agree to encourage him after their own fashion, and we 
were encouraged accordingly. What tales were narrated of the 
great divines of the metropolis and their congregations ! One 
we remember had a thousand city men to hear him, another 
had his church filled with thoughtful people, such as could hardly 
be matched all over England, while a third had an immense audi- 
ence, almost entirely composed of the yoitng men of London, who 
were spell-bound by his eloquence. The study which these men 
underwent in composing their sermons, their herculean toils in 
keeping up their congregations, and the matchless oratory which 
they exhibited on all occasions were duly rehearsed in our hear- 
ing; and when we were shown to bed in a cupboard over the 
front door we were not in an advantageous condition for pleasant 
dreams. Park-street hospitality never sent the young minister to 
that far-away hired room again; but assuredly the Saturday even- 
ing in a London boarding-house was about the most depressing 
agency which could have been brought to bear upon our spirit. 
On the narrow bed we tossed in solitary misery and found no pity. 
Pitiless was the grind of the cabs in the street ; pitiless the recol- 
lection of the young city clerks whose grim propriety had gazed 
upon our rusticity with such amusement; pitiless the spare room, 
which scarce afforded space to kneel ; pitiless even the gas-lamps 
which seemed to wink at us as they flickered amid the December 



EDITORIALS. 283 

darkness. We had no friend in all that city full of human beings, 
but we felt among strangers and foreigners, hoped to be helped 
through the scrape into which we had been brought, and to escape 
safely to the serene abodes of Cambridge and Waterbeach, which 
then seemed to be Eden itself. 

Twenty-five years ago it was a clear, cold morning, and we 
wended our way along Holborn Hill towards Blackfriars and cer- 
tain tortuous lanes and alleys at the foot of Southwark Bridge. 
Wondering, praying, fearing, hoping, believing, — we felt all alone 
and yet not alone. Expectant of divine help, and inwardly borne 
down by our sense of the need of it, we traversed a dreary wilder- 
ness of brick to find the spot where our message must needs be 
delivered. One word rose to our lip many times, we scarce know 
why, — " He must needs go through Samaria." The necessity of 
our Lord's journeying in a certain direction is no doubt repeated 
in His servants, and as our present journey was not of our seeking, 
and had been by no means pleasing so far as it had gone, — the 
one thought of a " needs be " for it seemed to overtop every other. 
At sight of Park-street Chapel we felt for a moment amazed at our 
own temerity, for it seemed to our eyes to be a large, ornate, and 
imposing structure, suggesting an audience wealthy and critical, 
and far removed from the humble folk to whom our ministry had 
been sweetness and light. It was early, so there were no persons 
entering, and when the set time was fully come there were no 
signs to support the suggestion raised by the exterior of the build- 
ing, and we felt that by God's help we were not yet out of our 
depth, and were not likely to be with so small an audience. The 
Lord helped us very graciously ; we had a happy Sabbath in the 
pulpit, and spent the intervals with warm-hearted friends ; and 
when at night we trudged back to t*he Queen-square narrow lodg- 
ing we were not alone, and we no longer looked on Londoners as 
flinty-hearted barbarians. Our tone was altered; we wanted no 
pity of any one ; we did not care a penny for the young gentlemen 
lodgers and their miraculous ministers, nor for the grind of the 
cabs, nor for anything else under the sun. The lion had been 
looked at all round, and his majesty did not appear to be a tenth 
as majestic as when we had only heard his roar miles away. 



284 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

These are small matters, but they rise before us as we look over 
the twenty-five years' space which has intervened : they are the 
haze of that other shore between which rolls a quarter of a cen- 
tury of mercy. At the review we are lost in a rush of mingled 

feelings. " With my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now ." 

Our ill health at this moment scarcely permits us either to hold 
a pen or to dictate words to another ; we must therefore leave till 
anothej- season such utterances of gratitude as the fulness of our 
heart may permit us. Common blessings may find a tongue at 
any moment, but favors such as we have received of the Lord 
throughout this semi-jubilee are not to be acknowledged fitly with 
the tongues of men or of angels, unless a happy inspiration should 
bear the thankful one beyond himself. 

The following items must, however, be recorded : they are but 
as a handful gleaned among the sheaves. To omit mention, of 
them would be ingratitude against which stones might justly cry 
out. 

A church has been maintained in order, vigor, and loving unity 
during all this period. Organized upon the freest basis, even to 
democracy, yet has there been seen among us a discipline and a 
compact oneness never excelled. Men and women associated by 
thousands, and each one imperfect, are not kept in perfect peace 
by human means ; there is a mystic spirit moving among them 
which alone could have held them as the heart of one man. No 
schism or heresy has sprung up among us ; division has been far 
from us ; co-pastorship has engendered no rivalry, and the illness 
of the senior officer has led to no disorder. Hypocrites and tem- 
porary professors have gone out from us because they were not 
of us, but we are still one even as at the first; perhaps more truly 
one than ever at any former instant of our history. One in hearty 
love to our redeeming Lord, to His glorious gospel, to the ordi- 
nances of His house, and to one another as brethren in Christ. 
Shall not the God of peace receive our humble praises for this 
unspeakable boon? 

The church has continued steadily to increase year by year. 
There have not been leaps of progress and then painful pauses of 
decline. On and on the host has marched, gathering recruits each 



EDITORIALS. 285 

month, filling up the gaps created by death or by removal, and 
steadily proceeding towards and beyond its maximum, which lies 
over the border of five thousand souls. One year may have been 
better than another, but not to any marked extent ; there has been 
a level richness in the harvest field, a joyful average in the crop. 
Unity of heart has been accompanied by uniformity of prosperity. 
Work has not been done in spurts, enterprises have not been com- 
menced and abandoned ; every advance has been maintained and 
has become the vantage ground for yet another aggression upon 
the enemy's territory. Faults there have been in abundance, but 
the good Lord has not suffered them to hinder progress or to pre- 
vent success. The Bridegroom has remained with us, and as yet 
the days of fasting have not been proclaimed ; rather has the joy 
of the Lord been from day to day our strength. 

The gospel of the grace of God has been continually preached 
from the first day until now, — the same gospel, we trust, accom- 
panied with growing experience and appreciation and knowledge, 
but not another gospel, nor even another form of the same gospel. 
From week to week the sermons have been issued from the press, 
till the printed sermons now number 1,450. These have enjoyed 
a very remarkable circulation in our own country, and in the ■ 
Colonies and America; and, besides being scattered to the ends 
of the earth wherever the English tongue is spoken, they have 
been translated into almost every language spoken by Christian 
people, and into some of the tongues of the heathen besides. 
What multitudes of conversions have come of these messengers 
of mercy eternity alone will disclose : we have heard enough to 
make our cup run over with unutterable delight. Shall not the 
God of boundless goodness be extolled and adored for this? The 
reader cannot know so well as the preacher what this printing of 
sermons involves. This is a tax upon the brain of a most serious 
kind, and yet it has been endured, and still the public read the 
sermons, — best proof that all their freshness has not departed. 
O Lord, all our fresh springs are in Thee, else had our ministry 
long since been dried up at the fountain, the unction would have 
departed, and the power would have fled. Unto the Eternal Spirit 
be infinite glory for His long forbearance and perpetual aid. 



286 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Nursed up at the sides of the Church, supported by her liberal- 
ity, fostered by her care, and watched over by her love, hundreds 
of young men have been trained for the ministry, and have gone 
forth everywhere preaching the Word. Of these some few have 
fallen asleep, but the great majority still remain in the ministry 
at home and in the mission field, faithful to the things which they 
learned in their youth, and persevering in the proclamation- of the 
same gospel which is dear to the Mother Church. When we think 
of the four hundred brethren preaching the gospel at this moment, 
of the many churches which they have formed, and of the meeting- 
houses they have built, we must magnify the name of the Lord who 
has wrought by so feeble an instrumentality. 

• Evangelists are now supported by the agency at the Tabernacle, 
and sent forth hither and thither to arouse the churches. Upon 
this effort a special blessing has rested, enough to fill all hearts 
with delighted thankfulness. 

During a considerable period hundreds of orphans have been 
fed and clothed and trained for time and eternity beneath the 
wings of the Church of God, and many scores of these are now 
engaged in honorable business, prospering in life, in membership 
with Christian churches, and delighting to own themselves in a 
special manner children of the Tabernacle, sons of the Stockwell 
Orphanage. This is a well-spring of joy sufficient for a life. Those 
who have labored with us in this holy work have a wealth of satis- 
faction in looking back upon the way wherein the Lord hath led 
us in this benevolent enterprise. Both the providence and the 
grace of God have been abundantly illustrated in this delightful 
service. If the story could ever be fully written — as it never can 
be — - it would redound to the praise of the faithful, promise-keep- 
ing Saviour, who said to us at the first, " My God shall supply all 
your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 

Nor is this all, nor can all be told. An army of colporteurs at 
this present moment covers our country; ninety or more men are 
going from house to house with the Word of God and pure litera- 
ture, endeavoring to enlighten the dark hamlets, and to reach the 
neglected individuals who pine alone upon their sick beds. Priest- 
craft is thus assailed by an agency which it little expected to 



EDITORIALS. 28/ 

encounter. Where a Nonconformist ministry could not be sus- 
tained for want of means, a testimony has been kept aHve which 
has sufficed to fetch out the chosen of the Lord from amid the 
gloom of superstition, and lead the Lord's elect away from priests 
and sacraments to Christ and the one great Sacrifice for sin. This 
work grows and must grow from year to year. 

The poor but faithful ministers of our Lord have had some little 
comfort rendered to them by a quiet, unobtrusive work, which has 
supplied them with parcels of useful books : a work which is only 
ours, and yet most truly ours, because it is performed in constant 
pain and frequent anguish by her who is our best of earthly bless- 
ings. The book fund has a note all its own, but we could not 
refrain from hearing it as it swells the blessed harmony of service 
done during the twenty-five years. " She that tarried at home 
divided the spoil." 

Time would fail us to rehearse the whole of the other enter- 
prises which have sprung up around us ; and were we inclined to 
do so, and to become a fool in glorying, we should not be able, 
for bodily weakness plucks us by the sleeve and cries '' Forbear ! '\ 
We will forbear, but not till we have exclaimed, " What hath God 
wrought ! " Nor till we have noted with peculiar gratitude that 
to us is doubly fulfilled the promise, " Instead of the fathers shall 
be the children." Our sons have already begun to fulfil our 
lack of service, and will do so more and more if our infirmities 
increase. 

It was right and seemly that at the close of this period of twenty- 
five years some testimonial should be ofi"ered to the pastor. The 
like has been worthily done in other cases, and brethren have 
accepted a sum of money which they well deserved, and which 
they have very properly laid aside as a provision for their families. 
In our case it did not seem to us at all fitting that the offering 
should come into our own purse ; our conscience and heart re- 
volted from the idea. We could without sin have accepted the 
gift for our own need, but it seemed not to be right. We have 
been so much more in the hands of God than most, so much less 
an agent and so much more an instrument, that we could not claim 
a grain of credit. Moreover, the dear and honored brethren and 



288 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

sisters in Christ who have surrounded us these many years have 
really themselves done the bulk of the work, and God forbid that 
we should monopolize honor which belongs to all the saints ! Let 
the offering come by all means, btit let it return to the source 
from whence it came. There are many, poor in the church, far 
more than friends at a distance would imagine, — many of the 
most godly poor, *' widows indeed," and partakers of the poverty 
of Christ. To aid the church in its holy duty of remembering the 
poor, which is the nearest approach to remembering Christ Him- 
self, seemed to us to be the highest use of money; the testimonial 
will, therefore, go to support the aged sisters in the almshouses, 
and thus it will actually relieve the funds of the church which are 
appropriated to the weekly relief of the necessitous. May the 
Lord Jesus accept this cup of cold water which is offered in His 
name ! We see the Lord's servants fetching for us water from the 
well of Bethlehem which is within the gate, and as we see them 
cheerfully and generously setting it at our feet we thank them, — 
thank them with tears in our eyes, — but we feel that we must not 
drink thereof; it must be poured out before the Lord. So let it 
be. O Lord, accept it ! 



SWEET FRUIT FROM A THORNY TREE. 

When our Heavenly Father '' puts His hand into the bitter 
box " and weighs out to us a portion of wormwood and gall in 
the form of bodily pain we very naturally ask the reason why. 
Nature suggests the question at times in petulance and gets no 
answer; faith only asks it with bated breath and gains a gracious 
reply. Our Lord has a right to do as He wills with us, and His 
dispensations are not to be challenged as though He were bound 
to give an account of His doings at the bar of our bewildered 
reason. Still, with the full persuasion that the Lord ever acts 
in love and wisdom, we may inquire into His design, and so far 
as experience can help us we may see what comes of the suffering 
which He inflicts. What are the *' comfortable fruits of righteous- 



EDITORIALS. 289 

ness " which are produced by watering the soul from the bitter 
lakes? What are the jewels of silver and gold with which we are 
adorned when we come up from the Egyptian bondage of pain 
and weariness? I, who have of late been a prisoner of the 
Lord in the sick chamber, would witness my confession as He 
enables me. 

Pain teaches us our nothingness. Health permits us to swell 
in self-esteem, and gather much which is unreal; sickness makes 
our feebleness conspicuous, and at the same time breaks up many 
of our shams. We need solid grace when we are thrown into the 
furnace of affliction : gilt and tinsel shrivel up in the fire. The 
patience in which we somewhat prided ourselves, where is it when 
sharp pangs succeed each other like poisoned arrows setting the 
blood on flame? The joyful faith which could do all things and 
bear all sufferings, is it always at hand when the time of trial has 
arrived? Tha peace which stood aloft on the mountain's summit 
and serenely smiled on storms beneath, does it hold its ground 
quite so easily as we thought it would when at our ease we proph- 
esied our behavior in the day of battle? How have I felt dwarfed 
and diminished by pain and depression ! The preacher to thou- 
sands could creep into a nutshell, and feel himself smaller than 
the worm which bored the tiny round hole by which he entered. 
I have admired and envied the least of my Lord's servants, and 
desired their prayers for me, though I felt unworthy of the kind 
thoughts of the weakest of them. We are most of us by far too 
great. A soap bubble has a scant measure of material in it for 
its size, and most of us are after the same order; it is greatly for 
our good to be reduced to our true dimensions. It is comfortable 
to be small ; one has more room and needs less, and is better able 
to hide away. When storms are out, a low bush or narrow eaves 
may shelter a sparrow, while a larger bird must bear the beat of 
the rain and the wind. To be nothing, and to feel less than noth- 
ing, is most sweet, for then we cower down under the great wings 
of God as the little chick beneath the brooding hen, and in utter 
helplessness we find our strength and solace. Nothing goes but 
that which ought to go ; the flower falls, but the seed ripens ; the 
froth is blown av/ay, but the wines on the' lees are perfected. 

19 



290 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

When nought remains but the cHnging of a weeping child who 
grasps his Father's hand, nought but the smiting on the breast 
of the pubHcan who cries, ''God be merciful to me a sinner," 
nought but the last resolve, " Though He slay me, yet will I trust 
in Him," no real loss has been sustained, say rather a great gain 
has come to the humbled heart. 

Heavy sickness and crushing pain shut out from us a thousand 
minor cares. We cannot now be cumbered with much serving, for 
others must take our place and play the Martha in our stead ; and 
it is well if then we are enabled to take Mary's place as nearly as 
possible and lie at Jesus' feet if we cannot sit there. With me it 
has been so. That beloved congregation and church, I could do 
nothing for them ; I must perforce leave them with the Great 
Shepherd and those dear associates whom He has called to share 
my burden. Those orphans, how could I watch over them? 
Those students, how could I instruct them? Those colporteurs, 
how could I provide for them? What if funds run low? They 
must do so ; I could not increase the flow of the brook Cherith, 
nor even find out a Avidow of Zarephath whose barrel of meal and 
cruse of oil should never waste. The Lord must do all or it must 
remain undone. The weary head could only exaggerate the need ; 
the sinking spirits could not suggest a supply. All must be left; 
yes, imLst be left. The reins drop from the driver's hands; the 
ploughman forgets the furrow; the seed-basket hangs no longer 
on the sower's arm. Thus is the soul shut in with God as within a 
wall of fire, and all her thought must be of Him and of His promise 
and His help ; grateful if but such thoughts will come, and forced 
if they come not just to lie as one dead at the feet of the great 
Lord and look up and hope. This cutting loose from earthly 
shores, this rehearsal of what ^must soon be done once for all in 
the hour of departure is a salutary exercise, tending to cut away 
the hampering besetments of this mortal life, and make us freer 
for the heavenly race. It is well to have the windows shut which 
look towards earth and its cares, that we may be driven to that 
fairer prospect which lies on the other side of Jordan. This is not 
the natural effect of pain, but when the Spirit of God works by it 
the help that way is wonderful. 



EDITORIALS. 29 1 

Sickness has caused many workers to become more intense when 
they have again been favored to return to their place. We he and 
bemoan our shortcomings, perceiving fault where it had in health- 
ier hours escaped observation, resolving, in God's strength, to 
throw our energies more fully into the weightiest matters, and 
spend less of force on secondary things. How much of lasting 
good may come of this ! The time apparently wasted may turn 
out to be a real economy of life if the worker for years to come 
shall be more earnest, more careful, more prayerful, niore depend- 
ent upon God, more passionately set upon doing his Lord's busi- 
ness thoroughly. Oh, that we could all thus improve our forced 
retirernents ! Then should we come forth like the sun from the 
chambers of the east, all the brighter for the night's chill darkness, 
while about us w^ould be the dew of the Spirit and the freshness 
of a new dawning. Sickness would be as a going into the desert 
to rest awhile, or as a bath from which a man arises with shining 
face. Oh, that it might be so with me ! My Lord, vouchsafe it 
for the sake of the many to whom these hands must yet break 
the bread of life. They say that pearls are .bred in the oyster by 
disease ; may our graces be such pearls. Falling leaves enrich the 
soil about the forest tree; would God that our weeping autumns 
would yield us fairer springs and larger growths. May the Divine 
Spirit cause it so to be ! If but one or two of His people shall 
profit by my keen pains, I will thank Him heartily. 

Pain, if sanctified, creates tenderness towards others. Alone it 
may harden and shut up the man within himself, a student of his 
own nerves and ailments, a hater of all Avho would pretend to rival 
him in suffering ; but, mixed with grace, our aches and pains are 
an ointment suppling the heart and causing the milk of human 
kindness to fill the breast. The poor are tender to the poor, and 
the sick feel for the sick when their afflictions have wrought after 
a healthful fashion. One could have wished to give the grufT, 
unsympathetic boor a twist or two of rheumatism, were it not that 
our experience would make us for pity's sake spare even him. 
Surely they who first founded hospitals were not always well them- 
selves. Grief has been full oft the mother of mercy, and the pangs 
of sickness have been the birth-throes of compassion. If our 



292 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

hearts learn sympathy they have been in a good school, though 
the master may have used the rod most heavily and taught us by 
many a smart. To those who are teachers of others this is of the 
first importance, for none can bear with the infirmities of others 
if they have not been made compassionate and filled with a fellow- 
feeling for the faint and the trembling. The keys of men's hearts 
hang up in the narrow chamber of suff"ering, and he who has not been 
there can scarcely know the art of opening the recesses of the soul. 
Instinctively the believing sufi"erer turns to the Lord Jesus, because 
He has been tempted in all points like as we are ; and in a lesser 
degree he naturally looks most hopefully to those of his brethren 
who have been most compassed with infirmity and most familiar- 
ized with anguish. Happy is the man who has been afiiicted, if 
the Holy Spirit shall thereby make him a son of consolation to 
the mourners in Zion. 

I find my scarcely recovered mind cannot continue this medi- 
tation much longer, and therefore, omitting a score of thoughts 
which would naturally suggest themselves to any devout person, 
I will only add that pain has a tendency to make us grateful when 
health returns. We value the powers of locomotion after tossing 
long upon a bed from which we cannot rise ; the open air is sweet 
after the confinement of the chamber ; food is relished when appe- 
tite returns, and in all respects the time of recovery is one of 
marked enjoyment. As birds sing most after their winter's silence, 
when the warm spring has newly returned, so should we be most 
praiseful when our gloomy hours are changed for cheerful resto- 
ration. Blessed be the Lord, who healeth all our diseases ! Jeho- 
vah Rophi is a name much treasured by those who know the 
Lord that healeth them. Gratitude is a choice spice for heaven's 
altar. It burns well in the censer, and sends up a fragrant cloud, 
acceptable to the great High Priest. Perhaps God would have 
lost much praise if His servant had not much suffered. Sickness 
thus yields large tribute to the King's revenue, and if it be so we 
may cheerfully endure it. Bow down, frail body and faint heart, 
if in the bowing ye can yield what ye had never produced if ye 
had stood erect in manly vigor ! Bruise, Lord, the spice, which 
else had kept its sweetness slumbering and useless ! 



EDITORIALS. 293 

This Is not a hymn, but yet it has heaven's poetry within it, 
even this agonizing cry, ** Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou 
wilt ; " and it is a dehcious result of trial if in this hearty utter- 
ance we learn to imitate our Lord, and to have fellowship with His 
sufferings. Here a great ocean opens up before us : pain may aid 
us in communion with our much-suffering Lord. Anything is a 
boon by which we are made more fully to be partakers with Him. 
But we cannot pursue the theme. As when the mariner in north- 
ern seas forces his way through an ice -blocked strait, and sees 
opening up before him a boundless sea, even so do we perceive 
great truths to which our subject leads the way ; but our vessel has 
so late been tempest-tossed that we can enter on no venturous 
voyage, but must cast anchor under the shelter of Cape Fellow- 
ship, and leave our readers to push onward into the blessed 
depths. May the good Spirit fill their sails, and bear them into 
the expanse of holy fellowship ! 



FROM AN ADDRESS TO THE STUDENTS. 

I AM sorry to say that I am made of such ill stuff that my Lord 
has to chasten me often and sorely. I am like a pen that will 
not write unless it be often nibbed, and so I have felt the sharp 
knife many times ; and yet I shall not regret my pains and crosses 
so long as my Lord will write with me on men's hearts. That is 
the cause of many ministers' afflictions ; they are necessary to our 
work. You have heard the fable of the raven that wished to 
drink, but the pitcher had so little water in it that he could not 
reach it, and therefore he took stone after stone and dropped it 
into the vessel until the water rose to the brim and he could drink. 
So little grace is in some men that they need many sicknesses, 
bereavements, and other afflictions to make their graces available 
for usefulness. If, however, we receive grace enough to bear fruit 
without continual pruning, so much the better. 

It is expected of us, brethren, that from this time we rise to a 



294 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

higher point. It is the Lord's due, if we think of what He has 
done for us. Some of my comrades in arms now before me 
have gone through battles as hard as any men may wish to fight, 
and after such success they must never say die. After what the 
Lord has done for us we must never strike our flag, nor turn our 
backs in the day of battle. Sir Francis Drake, when it was feared 
that he would be wrecked in the Thames, said : " What ! Have I 
"been round the world, and am I now to be drowned in a ditch? 
Not L" So say I to you, brethren: you have done business in 
stormy waters, and will you sink in a village pond? We shall not 
be worse treated than we have been. We are now in fine fighting 
trim, for we are hardened by former blows. A great pugilist at 
Rome was so battered, his nose, eyes, face were so disfigured, that 
he was always ready to fight, because he said: " L cannot look 
worse than I do." Personally, I am much in the same plight. 
Men cannot say anything worse of me than they have said. I 
have been belied from head to foot, and misrepresented to the 
last degree. My good looks are gone, and none can much dam- 
age me now. Some of you have had more to batter you than 
you are likely to endure again; you have had trial and tribu- 
lation and affliction as heavy as you can have them ; and after 
having stood in the lists so long, surely you are not going to yield 
and slink away like cowards? God forbid it ! God forbid it ! God 
grant, on the contrary, that the elder ones among you may have 
the pleasure, not only of winning battles for Christ, but of seeing 
others who have been saved under your instrumentality trained to 
fight better than yourselves for Jesus ! I read the other day a 
story, and with that I will conclude, desiring that I may in spirit- 
ual things have the same joy myself, and that it may be the lot 
of you all. Diagoras the Rhodian had in his time won many 
wreaths at the Olympian games. He had two boys, and he 
brought them up to the same profession. The day came when 
his own force abated, and he was no longer able to strive for 
masteries in his own person ; but he went up to the Olympian 
games with his two sons. He saw the blows they gave and 
received, and rejoiced when he discovered that they were both 
victorious. , A Lacedaemonian said to him : " You may die now, 



EDITORIALS. 295 

Diagoras; " meaning that the old man might die content, because 
he had in his own person and in that of his sons obtained the 
highest honors. The old man seemed to feel that it was even so ; 
for when his two sons came and shouldered their father, and 
carried him through the camp amid the ringing cheers of the great 
assembly, the old man, flushed with excitement, died under the 
eyes of the assembled Greeks. It would have been a wiser thing 
to have lived, for he had a third son who became more renowned 
than the other two ; but he passed away on a wave of victory. 
Oh, brethren, may you have spiritual children who shall win battles 
for the Lord, and may you live to see them doing it; then may 
you say with Simeon : " Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart 
in peace, according to Thy word." 



AGAINST HASTENING TO REMOVE FROM OUR 
POST OF DUTY. 

He was a wise man who said, ** The roundest peg seldom fits 
into the roundest hole without some paring." There is no posi- 
tion in life which, at the first, has not something irksome and 
trying about it. New comers cannot expect to feel at home at 
once. We remember our first wretched night at a school where 
we afterwards became supremely happy. Well do we recollect 
the misery of the first few months of a calling which we after- 
wards valued and enjoyed. Our mind was sorely depressed on 
first coming into that sphere in London which has since been the 
delight of our life. Let no man, therefore, when he at first com- 
mences work in any place feel at all discouraged by the uneasiness 
which may come over him. It is natural that he should feel 
strange in a new position. The burden is not yet adapted to the 
shoulder, and the shoulder is not yet hardened to the load. 
While feeling the irksomeness of a fresh position, do not be so 
foolish as to throw it up. Wait a little while, and time will work 
wonders. You will yet take pleasure in the very things which are 
now the source of discomfort. The very worst thing will be to 



296 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

hasten away and make a change, for the change will only bring 
trial in a fresh form, and you will endure afresh the evils which 
you have already almost mastered. The time which you have 
already spent at your new place will be lost, and the same weary 
first steps will have to be taken upon another ladder. Besides, 
you may readily leap out of the frying-pan into the fire. Change 
has charms to some men, but among its roses they find abundant 
thorns. 

Has the minister just entered upon a fresh sphere, and does he 
miss the affectionate warmth of his old acquaintances? Does he 
find his new people strange and singular? Do they appear cold 
and distant? Let him persevere, and all this will wear off, and he 
will come to love the very people to whom he now feels an^ aver- 
sion, and find his best helpers among those who now seem to be 
utterly indifferent to him. The call of Providence has brought 
him where he is, and he must not venture to leave because of 
inconveniences : often it will be his wisdom to regard these as a 
part of the tokens that he is in the right way, for the appointed 
path is seldom easy to the feet. 

Has our young friend commenced teaching a class in the Sun- 
day-school, and does she find it far less pleasant work than she 
imagined? Are the children wild and careless and inattentive, 
and does her own power of teaching appear to be smaller than 
she hoped? Let her give double application to her holy toil, and 
she will come to love it. Should she leave it, she may incur the 
blame of those who put their hands to the plough and look back. 
The ice has been already broken; the edge has been taken off 
from the difficulty ; let her persevere, and all will be well. 

There is no position in this world without its disadvantages. 
We may be perpetually on the move to our continual 'disquiet, and 
each move may bring us under the same, or even greater, disad- 
vantages. We remember a Scotch story of an unlucky family 
who attributed all their misfortunes to their house being haunted 
by mischievous spirits, known to our northern countrymen as 
" brownies." These superstitious individuals became at length 
desperate; nothing prospered in house or field, they would there- 
fore pack up all and begone from a spot so mysteriously infested. 



EDITORIALS. 297 

All the household goods were loaded up, and the husband and 
the " gudc wife " and the bairns were all flitting, when one of 
them cried out: "Brownie is in the churn. Brownie is flitting 
too." Just ^o ; the matters which hinder a man's success are gen- 
erally in himself, and will move with him; and wherein it is not 
so, he may yet be sure that if by change of place he avoids one 
set of brownies, he will find another awaiting him. There is bran 
in all meal, and there are dregs in all wine. All roads must at 
times be rough, and all seas must be tossed with tempest. To fly 
from trouble will need long wings, and to escape discomfort will 
require more than a magician's skill. 

It is wiser to " bear the ills we have, than fly to others that we 
know not of." It is probable that our present condition is the 
best possible for us, — no other form of trial would be preferable. 
What right have we to suspect the wisdom and the goodness of 
God in placing us where we are? It will be far more prudent to 
mistrust our own judgment when it leads us to murmuring and 
discontent. Occasionally it may be prudent to remove, or to 
change one's form of Christian service ; but this must be done 
thoughtfully, prayerfully, and with a supreme regard to the glory 
of God, rather than out of respect to our own feelings. A tree 
that is often transplanted will make but little growth and bear but 
slender fruit. A man who is " everything by turns and nothing 
long" will be a sort of "Jack of all trades and master of none." 
An increase of spiritual strength by greater communion with God, 
and a more resolute determination to glorify Him in every possible 
way, will usually conquer difficulties and win success. An ex- 
tremely hard substance in the world may be cut by something 
harder: even the adamant can be forced to yield. Double force 
will make that easy which now seems impossible. Do not, there- 
fore, change the work, but change yourself. Attempt no other 
alteration till a distinct improvement in your own self has reso- 
lutely been carried out. 

We speak thus because we believe that many are discouraged 
at the outset of a career which, if they could see its end, would 
fill them with thankfulness; and Satan raises these discourage- 
ments to tempt them to leave a position in which they may dam- 



298 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

age his kingdom and glorify Christ. Courage, dear friend, you 
have a great Helper ; look to the Strong for strength. Say with 
Nehemiah, *' Should such a man as I flee?" Who are you that 
everything should be made smooth for your feet? Are you such 
a little babe in grace that only the slightest tasks should be allotted 
to you ? Be a man, and play the man. Resolve that even at this 
present, and where you now are, you will set up the standard and 
hold the fort. Many are the instances in which men have com- 
menced their life-work under every possible disadvantage, and for 
months, and even years, they have seemed to make no headway 
whatsoever, and yet they have ultimately triumphed, and have 
come to bless the providence which called them into a place so 
well adapted for their gifts. It would have been their worst calam- 
ity if, under a fit of despondency, they had changed their station 
or relinquished their vocation. The Church would have been the 
poorer, the world would have been the darker, and themselves the 
feebler if they had shifted at the first even to the most promising 
spheres which tempted them. That rock on which they stood, 
and mourned the hardness of the soil, was more full of the ele- 
ments of fruitfulness than the softer soil at a little distance which 
invited them to leave. Tarrying where they were, exercising in- 
domitable perseverance, they have softened the granite, cultured 
it into fertility, and reaped a golden harvest. He is the greatest 
man who achieves success where stronger men might have failed. 
If we desire to glorify God we must not select the comfortable 
positions and the hopeful fields ; it is best to make no selection, 
but to yield our own will to the will of God altogether. The hole 
is round enough ; it will be difficult to make it any rounder. The 
proper plan is to round ourselves. If we will but adapt ourselves 
to our position the position will adapt itself to us. 

It may be that these hnes will furnish counsel to a brother whose 
choice now lies between being a rolling stone and a pillar in the 
house of our God. To turn tail under present pressure may be 
the beginning of a cowardly career, neither honorable to God 
nor to man: to stand fast at this distressing juncture may be the 
commencement of an established position of supreme usefulness 
and honor. 



XXIII. 
CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 



I PASSED under a camphor- tree and gathered a few of its leaves and found 
them full of camphor ; indeed, the whole of the tree was saturated with it. Thus 
should the grace of God show itself in the whole life of the behever. As the 
inevitable outflow of his renewed nature his most commonplace acts and words 
should be gracious. Little things best reveal character, for in them a man fs 
less upon his guard. Let even the leaves of your words partake of the grace 
which dwells in you. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 



VISITING THE POOR. 

JOSEPH COOK says : " In every great town there are six or 
ten strata of society ; and it is, one would think, a hundred 
miles from the fashionable to the unfashionable side of a single 
brick in a wall. Superfluity and squalor know absolutely nothing 
of each other, such is the utter negligence of the duty of visiting 
the poor in any other way than by agents. I do not undervalue 
these, nor any part of the great charities of our times ; but there 
is no complete theory for the permanent relief of the poor without 
personal visitation. Go from street to street with the city mis- 
sionary or the best of the police ; but sometimes go all alone, and 
with your own eyes see the poor in their attics, and study the 
absolutely unspeakable conditions of their daily lives. Live one 
day where the children of the perishing poor live, and ask what 
it is to live there always. I know a scholar of heroic temper and 
of exquisite culture who recently resolved to live with the poor 
in a stifling part of this city (Boston), and who, after repeated 
and desperate illness, was obliged to move his home off the 
ground in order to avoid the necessity of putting his body under- 
ground. You cannot understand the poor by newspapers, nor 
even by novels." 

Rather a sly poke, Mr. Cook, at those who fancy they can see 
mankind through the spectacles of novels. The world which is 
depicted in fiction is strangely different from the realm of fact in 
which men and women starve and die, or end their days in the 



302 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

workhouse, of which they have felt from their childhood a mortal 
dread. Novel-readers know a great deal which it will cost them 
vast pains to unlearn. True knowledge of the poor will not come 
even out of ''Jessica's First Prayer" and the like; it must grow 
out of actual contact with them. 

There is much truth in what Mr. Cook has said ; indeed, a great 
deal more than at first meets the eye. Wealthy Christians are to 
be educated in the most Christ-like of graces .by coming in con- 
tact with the poor, and it is a great pity that they should refuse 
to enter the appointed school ; poor saints are to be consoled and 
cheered by the presence of their richer brethren, and it is cruel 
for the ordained comforters to refuse their task. More would be 
given in charity if it were given personally, and it would be more 
wisely distributed and more gratefully received. The kindly word 
and sympathetic look would be worth more than the silver or even 
the gold expended upon the needy, and would often prevent the 
recipient from becoming a pauper, or rouse the pauper to a desire 
for independence. Personal visitation is good all round ; like 
mercy, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. 

Our churches have visiting societies connected with them, but 
we fear they are not quite so flourishing as they ought to be. A 
few ladies manage the whole business and do all the work. We 
wish that all the members of the churches who have anything to 
spare would become visitors of the sick and the poor, either in 
connection with the societies or on their own account. Of course, 
those whose time belongs to their employers, and those whose 
home duties occupy every minute are to be excused ; but we have 
hundreds of ladies without occupation who ought to spend their 
time in being true sisters of mercy. And why not the gentlemen 
too? Men of leisure could not do better than hunt out needy 
merit in the back slums. It would afford more excitement and 
pleasure than shooting over the moors or watching the fly on 
the rivers. Gentlemen could safely pioneer the way for ladies, 
and there are rooms which they might enter more safely than the 
gentler sex. When we speak of ladies and gentlemen we mean 
men and women of gentle hearts and generous hands, who would 
go really to pity and help the poor; we mean working men's 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 303 

wives who would sit up at night with a sick neighbor, and artisans 
themselves who would not mind whitewashing a sick man's room, 
if needed, to make it sweet and healthy. Anyhow, the salt wants 
to be rubbed in, and not to be kept by itself in the salt-box. 
There is the city with its sorrows, and here is the Church with 
its heaven-born love; the question is: How shall these be brought 
into contact, so that the evil shall find its remedy and the medicine 
shall reach the disease? 

It is of no use waiting till one universal Charity Organization 
scheme shall be carried out ; we might as well tarry till an organ- 
ized providence drops quartern loaves and pats of butter at every 
householder's door. Schemes and plans are all very well, but 
he who waits till a scheme has put a chicken into his pot will go 
without a pullet for a lifetime. The better way is for those who 
visit to go on with their work, and for those who do not visit to 
begin at once, and make one call a day if possible. Just take a 
walk down Paradise Place as a commencement. Look up Jinks's 
Rents and down Sheridan's Alley, and pick up an acquaintance with 
the woman who goes out charing when she can get it, and the widow 
who has four children, one born since the husband's death, — the 
consumptive widow, we mean, who cannot earn a penny for Jier- 
self because three of the little ones need nursing, and the eldest 
can barely run alone. To give up an evening party in order to 
make a call in the slums may seem to be insane advice, but we 
venture to back it up by the assertion that it would afford more 
sensible entertainment than the most of the stuck-up assemblies 
where twaddle and ceremony sicken thoughtful minds. Life is 
never slow to those who live to do good. True romance comes 
in the way of those whose hearts love the sorrowful. Nobody 
ever complains of ennid who spends his strenglh in relieving 
human need for Jesus' sake. Gratitude for our own favored lot 
is excited by the inspection of a hospital, a workhouse, or the 
squalid dens where poverty herds with vice. 

Society wants to be made into a stir-about. We must mingle 
for mutual advantage. The walls are getting higher and the 
ditches deeper; let us each one try to scale the ramparts and 
bridge the moats. We are one family, and we refuse to be 



304 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

divided. We cannot be content to be pampered while our breth- 
ren pine in want. Down with the barriers, and let the rich and 
poor meet together, for the Lord is the Maker of them all. 



''A CONTINUAL TOOTH-DRAWING." 

When Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was wearied ail day long by 
incessant requests to alter his procedure upon a great political 
question, he told his daughter that he could compare the impor- 
tunities of the members of the House of Commons to nothing but 
a continual tooth-drawing. This is an image far too striking 'to be 
left to Sir Powell's sole use. Many other persons have been made 
to know what a continual tooth-drawing means, and we feel per- 
suaded that many more are subjected to similar processes. 

We should think that a miserly man, who takes a sitting in a 
place of worship frequented by a liberal and energetic people, 
must frequently feel, when he is asked over and over again for a 
subscription, that he had almost as soon sit in a dentist's chair, and 
feel the operator's forceps upon his precious dentals. His best 
plan is to give at once, and so end the pain of the extraction. 

The same sort of misery must be experienced by the Christian 
who is always sighing — 

"'Tis a point I long to know," 

and incessantly turning over the experience of his own heart to 
see if he can extract from it some assuring evidence of his being 
in Christ. Most of us have undergone this unhappy experience, 
and even a moment of it is torture : to have to endure it month 
after month would be agony indeed. Oh, for a childlike faith in 
Jesus to decide the question at once ! 

Personally, we have heard utterances in prayer-meetings which 
were painfully like a continual tooth-drawing. They were hard, 
cold, heartless, dreary, and both as long and as dismal as a winter's 
night. All of a sudden we thought and hoped that the brother 
had done; but, alas, he took up a fresh lease, and entered upon 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 305 

another lengthened period ! To all appearance he was coming 
to a conclusion a second time, when off he went, like a shot 
which ricochets, or a boy's storle which when thrown into the 
water goes — duck — duck — drake — upon the surface. The 
prayer was diluted to the dregs of nothing, but end there 
seemed to be none. Oh, that the tooth were out ! The beloved 
brother had said all that could be said, and prayed for all that 
could be prayed for; but he evidently felt it necessary to begin 
again. We can have too much of a good thing in such a case, 
and we wish the friend thought so. 

Preachers, too, have caused us the same memorable sensation. 
The style and manner have been painful, and the length of the 
discourse has made the agony a protracted one. Dragging away 
at some metaphysical subtlety, which they could not bring into 
the light; tugging at some unimportant difficulty whose fangs 
defied their power; or explaining with marvellous perspicuity 
what was clear as daylight when they began, and marvellously 
foggy before they came to the end, they have inflicted upon us 
"a continual tooth-drawing;" at least, our patience was almost 
as much strained as if a grinder had been slowly drawn from 
our aching jaw. We are ready to cry, " Out with it, and have 
done, there 's a good man ; for we can't stand it much longer." 

Worst of all, however, and fullest development of Sir Powell's 
•simile, is the click, clack, click, clack of a fluent female who has 
gained your ear, and means to hold it. 

" She never tires nor stops to rest, 
But on and on she goes." 

We have felt ready to open our mouth, and let her draw all our 
teeth seriatim, if she would but leave off talking. She had noth- 
ing to say, and she said that nothing at extreme length, with 
marvellous energy and with unwearied repetition. We have 
turned our head, we have shut our eyes, we have wished we 
had gun-cotton in our ears and dynamite in our brain ; but 
our wishes did not deliver us, we were given over to the tor- 
menter, and must abide the fulfilment of our sentence. When 
the operation has been over we have sometimes asked our- 
selves what we have done to deserve such a punishment, and 

20 



306 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. FL SPURGEON. 

with every desire to make a full confession of our faults, we have 
not been able to discover anything which deserved so severe a 
torment under the present rule of mercy. At the second sight 
of the operator we have fled, feeling that it would be worth 
while to go a mile round, or leap over hedge and ditch, rather 
than again experience " a continual tooth-drawing." 

Moral. — Let us all be considerate of the feelings of others, 
for when v/e imagine we are merely tickling their ears, we may 
be causing them as much pain as if we were drawing their teeth. 



DOCTRINAL ERROR. 

When the heart has got out of order and the spiritual life 
has run down, men soon fall into actual doctrinal error, not so 
much because their head is wrong, for many of them have not 
much of that, but because their heart is in an ill condition. We 
should never have known that some men had brains at all if 
they had not addled them. Such departers from the faith usually 
fall by little and little. • They begin by saying very little concern- 
ing grace. They serve out homoeopathic doses of gospel: it is 
marvellous what a very small globule of the gospel will save a 
soul, and if is a great mercy that' it is so, or few would be saved. 
These snatches of gospel, and the preacher who gives them, 
remind us of the famous dog of Nile, of whom the ancients said 
that he was so afraid of the crocodiles that he drank of the river 
in a great hurry, and was away from it directly. These intellec- 
tual gentry are so afraid of the critical crocodiles that the moment 
they touch the living water of the gospel they are away again. 
Their doubts are stronger than their beliefs. The worst of it is 
that they not only give us very little gospel, but they give us 
much that is not the gospel. In this they are like mosquitoes, 
of whom I have often said, I do not mind their taking a little 
of my blood, but it is the poison which they put into me which 
is my great cause of quarrel. That a man should rob me of the 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 307 

gospel Is bad enough ; but that he should impregnate me with his 
poisonous doctrine is intolerable. 

When men lose all love to the gospel they try to make up for 
the loss of its attractions by sparkling inventions of their own. 
They imitate life by the artificial flash of culture, reminding me 
of the saline crystals Vv^hich cover the salt deserts. There is a 
lifeless plain in the heart of Persia, so sterile and accursed that 
even saline plants do not thrive ; *' but the salt Itself, as if in 
bitter mockery, fashions its crystals in the form of stems and 
stalks, and covers the steppe with a carpet of unique vegetation, 
glittering and glistening like an enchanted prairie in the daz- 
zling light of the eastern sun." Woe be unto the poor congre- 
gations who behold this substitute for life, this saline efflorescence 
of dainty errors and fascinating inventions ! Alas, whatever a man 
may now propound he will find learned personages to support 
him In it ! Fontenelle used to say, that if he could only get six 
ph'.losophers to write In its favor, people could be made to believe 
that the sun is not the source of light and heat: and I think 
there Is a great deal of truth in the remark. -We are told, "Well, 
he Is a very learned man, he is a Fellow of Brazenface College, 
and he has written a book in which he upsets the old dogmas." 
If a learned man writes any nonsense, of course it will have a 
run, and there is no opinion so insane but, if it has the patron- 
age of so-called scientific men, it will be believed In certain 
quarters. I have myself watched the labors of novelists in the- 
ology, and have tried to get what I could out of their books, 
but I have been struck with the remarkably poor results of their 
lucubrations. 



ON GEORGE MULLER. 

A Christian man is the noblest work of God, especially a 
Christian -man vvho has attained to fulness of stature, and has done 
eminent service for his Master. As in the presence of sublime 
scenery the renewed heart adores the Creator, and never dreams 



308 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

of worshipping nature itself, so in communion with a truly conse- 
crated man the spiritual mind rises to a reverent acknowledgment 
of the Holy Spirit, whose workmanship is seen in all the saints, 
and the idea of hero-worship is banished from the mind. Within 
the last few days it has been our joyful privilege to meet with 
several of the excellent of the earth. . . . 

It has been a great means of grace to us in our exile not only 
to hear the venerable George Miiller of Bristol, but to have three 
long interviews with him, besides uniting with him twice in the 
breaking of bread and in prayer. Mr. Miiller has the look of 
personified order and simplicity; his appearance is equally re- 
moved from show and slovenliness. His face gleams with the 
quiet cheerfulness which comes of profound restfulness. He 
believes God with great reality, and practically takes Him at His 
word, and hence his peace is as a river. His faith has wrought in 
him great strength of purpose, so far as man is concerned, and 
something more than 'submission to the will of the Lord, for he 
evidently delights himself therein, and, through divine grace, has 
been made to move in accordance with it. That which struck 
us most was his evident rejoicing in tribulations, for the only 
excitement which we noticed in him was at the mention of the 
trials of his early days, which gave such room for the display of 
the divine faithfulness. We do not mean that our friend desires 
trial, but we perceive that when it comes his heart is exceeding 
glad, and his glory rejoices, because the Lord is now about to 
reveal Himself more fully, and to honor His divine name yet again. 
Oh, that we could all learn this lesson and put it into practice ! 

Mr. Miiller gives us more the idea of Enoch than any man we 
have ever met: he habitually walks with God. Hence his whole 
life is his religion, and his religion is his whole life. The delight- 
ful placidity of the pulpit is retained in the parlor, and the gra- 
ciousness which is seen in the preacher is just as manifest in the 
friend. Some may, therefore, suppose that he has about him a 
sombre air; far from it. He is as bright and happy as a dear, 
obedient child has a right to be when enjoying his Father's love. 
He is no monk, and could not be made into a gloomy recluse,* 
the domestic affections are strong within him, and so also is his 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 309 

love to the brethren, and his desire for the good of all mankind. 
Nothing cold, austere, or hard has any place with this " man 
greatly beloved." In our company he displayed to us a special 
affection, which we heartily reciprocate. We entertain for him a 
feehng of profound veneration ; but in his intercourse with us his 
humility scarcely allowed him to perceive the fact, and there was 
an entire absence of anything like a sense of superiority, even of 
such as greater age and experience might naturally claim. Our 
communion was very sweet to the younger of the two ; may the 
Lord grant to him a renewal of it. We were deeply humbled at 
the sight of our friend's beauty of character ; not that he said a 
single, word by way of self-praise, but the very reverse, for his 
total absence of self-consciousness was a leading feature in his 
conversation. Again and again he said : " The Lord can do 
without poor George Miiller; " but even this was drawn out of 
him, for with him George Miiller is just nothing, and the Lord is 
all in all. We cannot picture this man of God, he is too bright 
for our pencil. A soft, subdued light shines upon his image as 
we try to recall it, a reflection of the moral glory of the Master 
whom he loves ; but mild as is the radiance, it prevents our 
sketching the man to the life. 

With no flash of oratory, or brilliance of poetry, or breadth of 
thought, or originality of mind, George Miiller is enabled to be 
one of the most useful of living preachers by his simply testifying 
to facts by which he has for himself proved the love and truth of 
God. His preaching is the gospel, and nothing else. Of flowers 
of speech he has none, and we hardly think he cares for them; 
but of the bread of heaven he has abundance. With speculations 
he does not intermeddle, but the eternal verities he handles with 
practical, homely, realizing faith. 

No doubts disturb the Director of the Ashley Down Orphanage ; 
how can there be when he sees the Lord daily feeding his 2,050 
orphan children in answer to his prayers? Modern thought and 
the higher criticism never trouble this happy man. He soars 
aloft. While earth-bound souls are distracted and tormented by 
the discordant voices of error, he hears the voice of the great 
Father in heaven, and is deaf to all besides. In his old a^e, still 



3IO LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

hale and strong, he ministers the Word with ceaseless diligence, 
journeying from place to place as the Lord opens the doors and 
prepares his way. Free from all anxiety, he enjoys life to the 
utmost, and if it were right to envy any man we should certainly 
envy George Miiller; we are not, however, under any necessity 
of so doing, for the same grace worketh in all the saints, and we 
have but to yield ourselves thereto. 



PASTORLESS FLOCKS. 

Our excellent contemporary, " The Watchman," of Boston, 
United States, has an article upon American churches and their 
difficulties in finding pastors which is singularly applicable to 
the condition of things in England. We quote the whole para- 
graph : — 

** It is sad to see sheep without a shepherd, and as sad to see a 
church without a pastor. At the present time a number of our 
most able churches are in a pastorless condition. The First 
Church in Cleveland has no successor to Dr. Gardner. Emanuel 
Church in Albany has not filled the place of Dr. Bridgman. The 
First Church in Chicago comes into the number of the pastorless. 
The old First Church in New York, for the first time in many 
years, has a vacant pulpit. Warren Avenue Church in Boston still 
waits. The Tabernacle Church, Albany, parts with Rev. Frank 
Morse, and puts up the sign, ' Pulpit to let.' The Fourth Church 
in Philadelphia mourns the withdrawal of its favorite. Other great 
churches are without pastors. The question arises: 'What is the 
matter?' We ask not why the pastors left, for in most cases the 
reason is obvious. But why is not the pulpit filled? Why should 
Emanuel Church and the Cleveland Church be so many months in 
securing a new minister? There seems to be a false taste prevail- 
ing in our churches which prevents any speedy settlement of a 
pastor when a vacancy occurs. The habit is to send all about the 
country to find some wonderful man to do some wonderful work. 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 31I 

When a ' supply committee ' is chosen, they look over the held, 
and get their eyes upon some brilliant man who is supposed to 
stand at the head of the list. They have the most important field 
in the country, and feel sure the genius will come. They call, 
and the call is declined. Then the committee strike a notch 
lower. Now they are sure, but the elect says, ' No.' Then they 
try again, a notch lower, with the same result. By this time the 
committee has learned something. The church is taught humility, 
and a call is given to some fair man, who accepts, and the ma- 
chinery gets in motion again. What is to become of these great 
pastorless churches? They are too big for our theological institu- 
tions to fill. They are too important for an ordinary race of 
ministers. They find nobody in the country equal to their neces- 
sities. What is to be done? We might import Spurgeon, but he 
refuses to be imported. We might call Hugh Stowell Brown, but 
he will not come. Certain it is that churches must be more 
moderate in their wants, or w^e must have a new race of ministers 
raised up by some special providence. As it is, we have too 
many big churches, or too many little men. The churches are 
often made big by fictitious means. They become swollen by 
self-laudation. Is there no way to swell the ministers? We know 
of a lot of men good, enough for the best of the vacant churches 
if they could only be swollen a little. An institution to inflate 
ministers so that they would fill vacant pulpits is a desideratum in 
our times, when so many churches find it so hard to obtain the 
men they want." 

Mr. Watchman is wickedly poking fun when he talks about 
inflating ministers. No preacher would be improved by being 
*' swollen," and we are quite sure that " The Watchman " would be 
the very first to object to the process. The remedy lies in the 
opposite direction. Churches need to be brought down from 
their exalted notions of themselves, and their self-laudation must 
come to an end ; or else the old proverb will find illustration in 
unexpected quarters, — '' Pride goeth before destruction." When 
Christian men grow dainty and quarrel with the bread of life 
because it is not baked in silver tins they are evidently in a sickly 
condition, and are in need of somethin^j else besides an able 



312 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

preacher. When they are strong and vigorous they can feed on 
good, wholesome spiritual meat, served up without the condiments 
of genius and sensationahsm : let them judge themselves, and see 
whether this strength does not still abide with them, and if so, let 
them shake off their whimsies, and sit down to homely fare like 
their brethren. 

We know at the present moment churches which are worthy of 
all honor from their past history, their position, and their liberality 
to the cause of God, — churches which it would be an honor to 
any man to preside over, for they are composed of intelligent, 
thoughtful Christian men ; and these churches cannot find a min- 
ister in all her Majesty's three kingdoms. It would be an injustice 
to charge any one of the members of those churches with self- 
conceit, for personally and privately they are each one sober- 
minded and lowly; but there is a certain something called "the 
church and its status," of which they are very proud, and when 
they meet together in their corporate capacity this " church and 
status " is paramount in their thoughts, and they are as puffed up 
about it as they well can be. " We must have a man of the first 
order. It matters not how long we wait, nor where we look, nor 
what we give ; our church is of such a character and occupies 
such a position that only a first-class preacher can be thought of." 
Filled with this idea, these brethren have heard some of the excel- 
lent of the earth, and have enjoyed their ministry; but they have 
conscientiously denied themselves the privilege of inviting them 
to the pastorate, because they have felt that these admirable 
brethren were lacking in classical attainments or in brilliant ora- 
tory. For themselves, and for their children, the esteemed minis- 
ters whom they have heard were all they could desire ; but there 
were learned men outside, or men supposed to be learned, persons 
of influence, or persons thought to be influential, hovering round 
the church doors, and for the sake of these the sound, edifying 
divine must be put on one side while they looked for a brother 
who would be abreast of the times, and would meet the philo- 
sophical turn of thought so current among " our more thoughtful 
young men." We confess to a smile as we write the last five 
words ; for we have heard of these gentlemen so often that we 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 313 

have the same awe of them as of ** the Conservative working 
man." These churches have several times hit upon the right men, 
as they thought, and have endeavored to entice them away from 
the congregations over which they were settled, but their invita- 
tions have been respectfully declined. They are still looking out, 
and probably will be looking out for anything under the next 
quarter of a century, unless they can modify and moderate their 
notions of what they ought to find in a minister. 

Besides the risks which they run by remaining so long pastor- 
less, risks by no means to be underrated, there is one which they 
forget, namely, that when they do make their choice they will 
probably select a man far less worthy of their election than several 
whom they have passed over. The old story of the boy in the 
wood who needed a stick, but felt that with so many around him 
he should be sure to meet with a better one by and by, has been 
repeated hundreds of times. That worthy, as we all know, came 
at last to the end of the copse, and was obliged to cut any one 
he could find, having passed by scores of better ones earlier in 
the day. 

One of the best things that a church can do is to catch a min- 
ister young, and train him for themselves. Some of the happiest 
and longest pastorates in our denomination commenced with the 
invitation of a young man from the country to a post for which 
he was barely qualified. His rnistakes were borne with, his efforts 
were encouraged, and he grew, and the church grew with him. 
His pastorate continued for many a year, since he was under no 
temptation to leave for another position, because he felt at home, 
and could say, like one of old, " I dwell among mine own people." 
If our large churches will not try young men, but must all be 
provided with tried, experienced, eminent pastors, there will 
probably be many vacant pulpits, and a great many reasons for 
their being vacant will be stated by letter-writers in the religious 
newspapers, — reasons all more or less amusing because they show 
how men can spin theories, as spiders spin webs, out of their own 
interiors, making a little substance go a very long way. God has 
promised to send the churches pastors according to His own 
heart, but not according to the hearts of those who say: ''Our 



314 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

pulpit is one of the most important in the denomination, and 
therefore we want something more than sound gospel preaching." 
Our Lord will never suffer the churches to be destitute of soul- 
winning and edifying ministers, but He has never promised to give 
them orators, poets, philosophers, and deep thinkers. The gifts 
of the Spirit He will not withhold, but there are gifts of mind 
which are rare, and always will be rare so long as the 'earth 
remaineth, and these He may not see fit to give to a larger average 
of men in this age than in former periods. If the churches direct 
their choice by these rare mental attainments, the selection of a 
pastor will be difficult in all cases, and growingly difficult as the 
number of our churches shall be multiplied. 

We by no means suggest that pastors should be chosen in a 
hurry, or that intelligent churches should select ignorant minis- 
ters, or that zeal and spirituality should alone be considered in the 
election ; on the contrary, we heartily recognize the need of care, 
and we sympathize with the difficulties felt by our larger churches 
in finding suitable preachers. It Is far better to wait for years 
than to be carried away by a few starring sermons, and choose a 
man who will cling to the church like a limpet, and suck out its 
very life like a fungus. Better no man than the wrong man. Our 
larger and more educated churches might w^th advantage have 
refined and learned men as their leaders. We believe tha!t the 
more a man knows the better, and the more culture he has the 
better; but at the same time education, refinement, talent, and 
culture are not everything, and the admiration of them may be 
carried a great deal too far. Gifts may be exalted above graces, 
and the flowers of nature made to rival the fruits of the Spirit; 
and this will be a grievous error. We also believe that large and 
influential churches should, as a- rule, look out men of considerable 
experience and proved ability to be their spiritual overseers ; but 
even this may be overdone, and so much overdone that, when the 
Lord sends the right man for the place, he may be rejected, 
because of his youth, to the church's serious loss. Let the highest 
and holiest ends of the gospel ministry be well considered, and let 
a pastor be sought for mainly with the view- of edifying the church 
and glorifying God, and we are persuaded that a pastor will be 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 315 

found ere long. Let the brethren meet in prayer continually, and 
lay their case before the great Head of the Church, and we feel 
persuaded that He who holds the seven stars in His right hand will 
find a star for each pleading church. We are far from wishing to 
insinuate that the pastorless churches have not prayed already, 
but we would urge them to greater importunity in supplication, 
and beg them to- couple with their earnest request a full resolve to 
have a man not so much of their own choice as of the Lord's own 
choosing. We may not succeed when we pray for a pastor after 
our own ideal, but we cannot fail when we lay all our wishes and 
desires at the Master's feet and cry : " Send by whomsoever Thou 
wilt send." This business must become more divine and less 
human ; we must look up as well as look around, and we shall 
find the upward glance to be the more successful. 



PRAISE OF MEN. 

The youthful worker is very apt to be exalted should he receive 
a little praise, and there are many injudicious persons who are 
ready to lavish euloglums upon any young beginner who seems 
to be at all promising. How many these foolish talkers have 
seriously injured it would be hard to say. It may be well to 
whisper in the young man's ear that very little store is to b,e set 
by the approbation of those who will praise a youth to his face ; 
they are mostly fools, and sometimes knaves. '* There are that 
kiss and kill," say the cautious Italians. When a man with a loud 
mouth praises me, I have good reason to be wary in my dealings 
with him. The boa-constrictor first covers its victim with saliva 
and then swallows him ; and w"e have known serpents of both 
sexes do the same with young preachers. Bew^are of the net of 
the flatterer and the bait of the maker of compliments. Human 
opinion is so changeable, and even while it lasts it is of so mixed a 
character that it is virtually worth nothing at all. We all remem- 
ber how the men of Lystra first offered to worship Paul, and then 



3l6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

within an hour began to stone him. Who cares to run for a crown 
which melts as soon as it wreathes the winner's brow? The flash 
of a wave or the gleam of a meteor is not more fleeting than 
popular applause. 

Besides, if we are applauded by some we are sure to be obnox- 
ious to others, and it is well to set the one over against the other. 
It is related of Mr. Kilpin, of Exeter, that, going through the 
streets of that city, he heard a person say of him as he passed : 
''If ever there was a good man upon earth, there goes one." This 
was elevating, but in the next street the eflect of this praise was 
counteracted by Mr. Kilpin's hearing another bystander exclaim : 
" If ever a man deserved to be hanged, that fellow does ! He 
makes people mad with his preaching." The victim of anwise 
compliments has only to walk into another room and hear how 
roundly certain persons are abusing him, and he will find it a very 
useful tonic. It is never summer all over the world at one time, 
and no public person is being everywhere esteemed. Probably 
it is well for the interests of truth that excesses in judgment are 
relieved by their opposites. 

Another consideration is suggested by experience, — namely, 
that praise is exceedingly weakening. If' we allow ourselves to 
feel its soft and pleasant influence it lays us open to feel the 
caustic and painful efl'ects of censure. After a judge had passed 
sentence upon a certain prisoner, the foreman of the jury that had 
convicted him began to compliment his lordship upon the remarks 
which he had made and the term of imprisonment which he had 
awarded; but the judge at once stopped him, knowing well that 
if he had allowed himself to be praised by one jury he w^ould be 
liable to be blamed by another. If we are pervious to one influ- 
ence we shall be subject to its opposite. We are quite sure to be 
slandered and abused, and it is well, therefore, for us to have a 
somewhat thick skin ; but if we listen to commendation it makes 
us tender, and deprives us of that which might have been like 
armor to the soul. If we allow ourselves to be charmed by the 
tinklings of flattery we shall be alarmed by the harsh notes of 
detraction. We must either be proof against both influences or 
acrainst neither. 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 317 

A man who becomes dependent upon the opinions of others 
lays himself open to contempt. It is Impossible to think highly 
of a person who fishes for compliments. To value esteem so 
much as to go out of our way after it is the surest possible way 
to lose it. When we consider how unevenly the human hand 
holds the balances, we may feel but small concern when we are 
weighed by our fellow-men. If we consider how infinitely pre- 
cious is the divine regard, w^e shall live to gain it, and so shall 
rise above all slavish consideration of the opinions of our fellows. 
What said the wise apostle Paul? " But with me It is a very small 
thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, 
I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet 
am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me Is the Lord" 
(i Cor. iv. 3, 4). 

Individuals .there are abroad who can suck in any measure of 
praise and retain a large receptiveness for more : they take to it, 
and thrive In It, like fish in water. You may choke a dog with 
pudding, but you could never satiate, nor even satisfy, these 
people with praise. To such we tender -no advice, for to bid 
them shun praise would be as useless as to urge the ox to for- 
sake the pasture or the ass its master's crib; such persons are, 
however, of small worth as a general rule. We have known 
exceptions. W^e remember well a man of admirable parts and 
real graces of character who was nevertheless ridiculously vain ; 
but he was manifestly eccentric, and had to be left as a lot out 
of catalogue. The rule is that the vain are worthless, and to them 
the epigram might be applied, — 

*' Of all speculations the market holds forth 
The best that I know for a lover of pelf. 
Were to buy Balbus up at the price he is worth, 
And sell him at that which he sets on himself! " 



3l8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



BE NOT DISCOURAGED. 

Work for Jesus, when it is done as it ought to be, makes great 
demands upon the mind and heart. Mere jog-trot routine can 
keep on by the year together without much wear and tear, and 
without much result; but when a passion for souls is felt, and the 
entire being strains its utmost powers in pleading with men, the 
case is altered. A sermon or an address which sensibly moves 
the audience makes a large demand upon the heart's blood of the 
soul: as a rule, it not only costs an ardent preparation and a 
vehement rush of emotion during delivery, but it tells upon the 
whole system when it is over, and drains from it much of its force. 
An express train may put on the continuous brake, and pull up in 
a short space, but a heart in tremendous action cannot stay itself. 
For hours, and even for days, the whole man feels the momentum 
of a thrilling appeal ; his soul continues to rise with the theme 
when his voice is silenced ; and when this ceases there is sure to 
be a reaction, which frequently takes the form of a sinking equal 
to the previous rise. If not well watched despondency will grow 
out of this, and the best workers for God will find themselves 
weak, weary, and tempted to shun the service. This is to be 
dreaded, and every means must be used to prevent it. Brethren, 
one who knows by experience what is meant by a downcast spirit, 
produced by ardent service, would warn you against bringing it 
upon yourselves. There is need of vehement service, and there 
must needs be a great draught upon the strength of truly useful 
men and women ; but there is no necessity for our running down 
too low, — in fact we must not do so, or our usefulness will be 
marred. We must be careful to guard against monotony of 
thought, for this eats as doth a canker. We must not dwell so • 
exclusively upon our work and its responsibilities, nor even upon 
the souls of men and their danger: we must remember more dis- 
tinctly our Lord and His grace and power to save us and our 
hearers. We must remember the victories of the cross as well as 
the ruin of the fall. Even our Lord Jesus did not always reflect 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 319 

Upon the destruction of Jerusalem, or He would have stood weep- 
ing over it all His life, and have accomplished nothing for man- 
kind. Let us give the mind a wider sweep, and consider the 
glories of grace as well as the sorrows of sin. Great joy will help 
to repair the damage of great work, and with a due measure of 
rest between we may hope to go on cheerfully from year to year, 
till our great Master shall call us home. 



PERIL FROM THE PULPIT. 

The" habit of perpetually mentioning the theories of unbelievers 
when preaching the gospel, gives a man the appearance of great 
learning, but it also proves his want of common sense. In order 
to show the value of wholesome food it is not needful to proffer 
your guest a dose of poison, nor would he think the better of 
your hospitality if you did so. Certain sermons are more calcu- 
lated to weaken faith than to render men "believers ; they resem- 
ble the process through which a poor unhappy dog is frequently 
passed at the Grotto del Cane at Naples. He is thrown into the 
gas which reaches up to the spectators' knees, not with the view 
of killing him, but merely as an exhibition. Lifted out of his 
vapory bath, he is thrown into a pool of water, and revives in, 
time for another operation. Such a dog is not likely to be a very 
efficient watch-dog or pursuer of game ; and when hearers Sun- 
day after Sunday are plunged into a bath of sceptical thought, 
they may survive the experiment, but they will never become 
spiritually strong or practically useful. It is never worth while 
to make rents in a garment for the sake of mending them, nor to 
create doubts in order to show how cleverly we can quiet them. 
Should a man set fire to his house because he has a patent 
extincteiir which would put it out in no time, he would stand a 
chance of one day creating a conflagration which all the patents 
under heaven could not easily extinguish. Thousands of unbe- 
lievers have been born into the family of scepticism by professed 
preachers of the gospel, who supposed that they were helping them 



320 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

to faith: the fire fed upon the heaps of leaves which the foohsh, 
well-intentioned speaker cast upon it in the hope of smothering 
it. Young men in many instances have obtained their first no- 
tions of infidelity from their ministers; they have sucked in the 
poison, but refused the antidote. The devil's catechists in doubt 
have been the men who were sent to preach " believe and live." 
This is a sore evil under the sun, and it seems hard to stay it, and 
yet ordinary common sense ought to teach ministers wisdom in 
such a matter. 

Alas ! there are public teachers who do the devil's work wit- 
tingly, for if you hear them for a short tirrie you will perceive 
that nothing is certain with them but their own uncertainty. 
We one day heard a tradesman selling old lead from off a church 
to a person who dealt in that metal. ''How much have you?" 
said the buyer. '' I will sell you eighteen hundredweight/' said 
the seller, *' and guarantee the weight if you take it away to-day; 
but mark you, I will not warrant that there shall be nine hun- 
dredweight to-morrow." *' Why not ? " said the buyer. *' Why," 
replied the other, " you know better than I do that lead evapo- 
rates very mysteriously." The buyer nodded an understanding 
nod, and bought for immediate delivery. We also marked the 
metaphorical statement, and remembered how mysteriously the 
precious treasure of the gospel '* evaporates " in the hands of 
some workmen who need to be ashamed. '' Heigh, presto !'' and 
away the wizard makes the essential truth to fly, though every 
word he uses is as orthodox as the creed. In a book of Indian 
travels the writer states that he has seen marvellous things per- 
formed by jugglers. Believe him who will, he states that he saw 
two conjurers with a chain fifty cubits long. They threw one end 
of it into the air, and there it remained suspended. A dog walked 
up the chain and disappeared ; then a goat came forward and did 
the same ; and afterwards a lion and a tiger mounted and vanished 
in like manner. Our "deep thinkers" perform this trick to per- 
fection. The heavenward end of their chain of thought is fixed 
somewhere in cloudland, and up this precious chain of theirs they 
have long ago sent the doctrine of the substitution of Christ, the 
immortality of the soul, the plenary inspiration of Scripture, and 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 32 1 

other eternal verities ; and now it is hinted that the deity of our 
Lord, the resurrection from the dead, and the personality of God 
are to be regarded as moot points. Up into the air all positive 
truths are to go one after another till nothing will be left. At 
what conclusion will they arrive? As yet they have come to no 
conclusion but this — that nothing can ever be concluded. 

But silence ! If you say half a word you will be called unchari- 
table, or perhaps you will be charged with bearing false witness 
against your neighbor. Rats may undermine a Dutch dyke and 
drown a province, but to hunt them would be cruelty to animals. 
Have not the creatures as much right to their own course as you 
have? Burglars may break into our houses, and even take our 
lives ; but hold off, ye police ! be not so uncharitable as to inter- 
rupt a dexterity so admirable, or to raise a hue and cry against 
artistes so proficient. They are amiable men in family life, very 
clever in conversation, and much esteemed in their own circles ; 
why render their occupation uncomfortable? They simply differ 
upon matters of opinion as to rights of property, and if they 
are a little heterodox, there are only two letters of difference 
between ineiim and tinim, and it is a shame to make men offend- 
ers for so insignificant a distinction. Bah ! We execrate the thief, 
and with equal justice ought we to expose and to condemn the 
traitor who robs us of heavenly treasure, of truth vital to eternal 
life, truth which is absolutely needful to our soul's salvation. Pleas 
of charity to error are arguments for the murder of souls. Life 
and death hang upon the question of truth or falsehood ; if lies 
be propagated or truth be clouded, the watchmen of the Lord 
will have to give in their account for permitting it. For our part 
we shall not cease to warn till the occasion is removed, and at 
this present time that occasion is by no means gone, for the world 
swarms with — 

" Philosophers who darken and put otit 
Eternal truth by everlasting doubt ; 
Discoverers of they know not what, confined 
Within no bounds — the bh'nd that lead the blind." 

Till these have all fallen into the ditch and cleared the road for 
honest teachers we must not cease to warn every man, that none 
may be fatally deceived by them. 

21 



322 LIFE AND LABORS OF C H. SPURGEON. 



ON BEING IN TIME. 

Punctuality is one of the minor moralities, but it is one which 
every young man should carefully cultivate. The very smallness of 
the virtue makes its opposite vice the less excusable. It is as easy 
to be in time as it is to be five minutes late when you once acquire 
the habit. Let it be acquired by all means, and never lost again. 
Upon that five minutes will depend a world of comfort to others, 
and every Christian should consider this to be a very weighty 
argument. We have no right to cause worry and aggravation to 
others, when a little thoughtfulness on our part would prevent it. 
If the engagement be for twelve o'clock, we have no authority to 
make it 12.5, and by doing so we shall promote nobody's happi- 
ness. That odd five minutes may create discomfort for Ourselves 
throughout the entire day, and this perhaps may touch the slug- 
gard a little more keenly than any less selfish consideration. He 
who begins a little late in the morning will have to drive fast, will 
be constantly in a fever, and will scarcely overtake his business at 
night; whereas he who rises in proper time can enjoy the luxury 
of pursuing his calling with regularity, ending his work in fit 
season, and gaining a little portion of leisure. Late in the morn- 
ing may mean puffing and blowing all the day long, whereas an 
early hour will make the pace an easy one. This is worth a man's 
consideririg. Much evil comes of hurry, and hurry is the child 
of unpunctuality. 

The waste of other people's time ought to touch the late man's 
conscience. A gentleman, who was a rnember of a committee, 
rushed in fifteen minutes behind the appointed hour, and scarcely 
apologized, for to him the time seemed near enough ; but a 
Quaker, who happened also to be on the committee, and had been 
compelled to wait, because a quorum could not be made up to 
proceed with the business, remarked to him : *' Friend, thou hast 
wasted a full hour. It is not only thy quarter of an hour which 
thou hast lost, but the quarter of an hour of each of the other 



CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES. 323 

three ; and hours are not so plentiful that we can afford to throw 
them away." We once knew a brother whom we named " the late 
Mr. S ," because he never came in time. A certain tart gen- 
tleman, who had been irritated by this brother's unpunctuality, 
said that the sooner that name was literally true the better for the 
temper of those who had to wait for him. Many a man would 
much rather be fined than be kept waiting. If a man must injure 
me, let him rather plunder me of my cash than of my time. To 
keep a busy man waiting is an act of impudent robbery, and is 
also a constructive insult. It may not be so intended, but cer- 
tainly if a man lias proper respect for his friend, he will know the 
value of his time, and will not cause him to waste it. There is a 
cool contempt in unpunctuality, for it as good as says : *' Let the 
fellow wait; who is he that I should keep my appointment with 
him?" 

In this world, matters are so linked together that you cannot 
disarrange one without throwing others out of gear; if one busi- 
ness is put out of time, another is delayed by the same means. 
The other day we were travelling to the- Riviera, and the train 
after leaving Paris was detained for an hour and a half. This was 
bad enough, but the result was worse, for when we reached Mar- 
seilles the connecting train had gone, and we were not only 
detained for a considerable time, but were forced to proceed by 
a slow train, and so reached our destination six hours later than 
we ought to have done. All the subsequent delay was caused 
through the first stoppage. A merchant once said to us : " A. B. 
is a good fellow in many respects, but he is so frightfully slow 
that we. cannot retain him in our office, because, as all the clerks 
work into each other's hands, his delays are multiplied enormously, 
and cause intolerable inconvenience. He is a hindrance to the 
whole system, and he had better go where he can work alone." 
The worst of it is that we cannot send unpunctual people where 
they can work alone. To whom or whither should they go? We 
cannot rig out a hermitage for each one, or that would be a great 
deliverance. If they prepared their own dinners, it would not 
matter that they dropped in after every dish had become cold. If 
they preached sermons to themselves, and had no other audience, 



324 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

it would not signify that they began consistently seven minutes 
behind the pubhshed hour. If they were their own scholars, and 
taught themselves, it would be of no consequence if the pupil sat 
waiting for his teacher for twenty minutes. As it is, we in this 
world cannot get away from the unpunctual, nor get them away 
from us, and therefore we are obliged to put up with them ; but 
we should like them to know that they are a gross nuisance, and a 
frequent cause of sin, through irritating the tempers of those who 
cannot afford to squander time as they do. If this should meet 
the eye of any gentleman who has almost forgotten the meaning 
of the word '' punctuality," we earnestly advise him to try and be 
henceforth five minutes too soon for every appointment, and then 
perhaps he will gradually subside into the little great virtue ^^hich 
we here recommend. Could not some good genius get up a 
Punctuality Association, every member to wear a chronometer, 
set to Greenwich time, and to keep appointments by the minute- 
hand? Pledges should be issued, to be signed by all sluggish 
persons who can summon up sufficient resolution totally to abstain 
from being behind time in church or chapel, or on committee, or 
at dinner, or in coming home from the office in the evening. 
Ladies eligible as members upon signing a special pledge to keep 
nobody waiting while they run upstairs to pop on their bonnets. 
How much of sinful temper would be spared, and how much of 
time saved, we cannot venture to guess. Try it. 



XXIV. 
REVIEWS. 



You will need heavenly teaching, that you may carefully select the wheat, 
and keep it free from the darnel of error. We must even winnow out of it our 
own thoughts and opinions, for these may not be according to the mind of God. 
Men are not saved by our word, but by God's Word. We are bound to see 
that we know the gospel, and teach the whole of it. We shall have enough 
to do if we look well to the seed-basket, lest, peradventure, we should sow 
tares as well as wheat, or should cast good seed wantonly, where it can only 
feed evil birds. — C. H. Spurgeon. ' 



REVIEWS. 



AS soon as our monthly "Sword and Trowel" comes to hand 
we first glance at tlie '* Personal Notes," reserving the weight- 
ier articles for leisure moments. But we somehow manage an 
after-dinner pause for the " Reviews." Thousands of books pass 
through Mr. Spurgeon's hands and under his sharp eye, although 
it cannot be expected that he personally attends to every book 
sent him for review. Nevertheless, the touch of his hand, the 
kindness of his heart, his jealousy for the truth, his great good- 
humor, keen wit, and terrible scalpel- knife are readily discerned, 
according as the subject commends itself to his judgment or calls 
forth his righteous indignation. In his brief expositions of other 
men's works we have found " a feast of reason and a flow of soul." 
The subjoined specimens will prove a treat, as well as impart 
instruction. 

Paper, Pens, and Ink : a. Brief Sketch of the Principal Writiiig Materials 
used in all ages. By Daniel Frazer, 

A SMALL book upon a fruitful topic. It is conceived ia an excel- 
lent spirit, but written in an execrable style. We do not like such 
Frazerized English. If the matter had been clothed in the ordi- 
nary language of our country, without new words, slipshod ex- 
pressions, and inaccuracies, we should have heartily recommended 
the book. Here is a pretty sentence : " The collection of English 
rags gives employment to great numbers of itinerant china mer- 
chants, alias ' bowl-women and men,' as well as to the architects, 
artificers, and retailers of the gaudily-painted, but non-grinding 



328 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

' windmills ' that bedeck the ' one-wheel carriages ' of the ' old 
iron, old brass ' merchants who perambulate, to the infinite delight 
of ' the young and rising generation,' our urban by-lanes and 
retired streets, our sequestered villages and secluded hamlets." 

77ie History of the Teacup ; ivith a Descriptive Account of the Potter'' s A?'t. 
By the Rev. G. R. Wedgwood. 

It has seldom fallen to our lot to read a book so full of inter- 
esting details all directly bearing upon the subject in hand. It is 
singular that there should be a Rev. Wedg^vood to write a history 
of the teacup, and as appropriate as it is singular. We think that 
this Wedgwood as much excels in writing the history as the other 
Wedgwood did in making the teacup itself Old and young will 
be equally pleased with this book. There is no " padding " in it, 
no introduction of foreign themes in order to swell the size of the 
book. The author is never dry or prolix, he says what he has to 
say, says it briefly, and says it well. There may be more laborious 
histories of the art of pottery; we do not doubt that there are 
several which a man might go to sleep over ; but for putting the 
matter in a nutshell, commend us to the present pretty little 
volume. 

A7t Examination of the Doctriiies of Conditional Inivioj-tality and 
Universalis77t. 

The doctrine of Conditional Immortality, or, as we prefer to call 
it, Religious Materialism, is here very thoroughly refuted. The 
idea that man is but a brute, as soulless as a dog or a lion, until 
conversion takes place, is to us unaccountably profane and absurd, 
and yet it is held by many preachers of the modern school. Its 
logical contradictions are mercilessly exposed in this short volume, 
and its distortion of the Scriptures made apparent. Heretic- 
hunting is sorry work, but in the hands of our author it is power- 
fully and thoroughly performed. May it accomplish the work it 
designs, in helping many who have been bewildered by strange 
fancies to return again to the old paths ! 



REVIEWS. 329 

The Unsafe A?tchor: or, ' Eternal Hope ' a False Hope. Being Sirichues o?t 
Canon Farrafs Westminster Abbey Ser?nons. 

Although the interest and excitement caused by Canon Far- 
rar's sermons have very largely vanished, yet it was well that the 
antidote here provided should be preserved in a permanent form. 
The poison — as we believe it to be — was presented in essentially 
a popular and insidious manner, and the mischief has not yet ceased 
to work. Hence the value of this little volume, though it comes 
somewhat late in the day. The author does not play with his 
opponent, but in his sturdy, trenchant style handles very roughly 
the stale fallacies and insipid sentimentalities of the Canon. His 
exposure of the contradictions of the preacher's view — or, rather, 
position, without definite view — is exceedingly powerful. We 
heartily agree with his summary of the sermons when he says : 
" I have never read a work by an Anglican divine of which the 
theology was so shallow, the reasoning so inconclusive, or the 
criticism so unsatisfactory. Certainly I never encountered one 
the style of which was so offensively arrogant, so passionately 
dogmatic." 

A New Basis of Belief in Immortality. 

Those sceptics of the present day who find in modern culture 
a motive for repudiating Christian faith are often grievously 
afflicted with unrest. Their thoughts are like the troubled sea. 
Gladly would they get into some port where their heads would 
cease to swim. This is the disease for which this book prescribes 
a remedy, — a remedy as bad as the disease. With a delicate 
pathos, such as we meet with in advertisements that describe the 
symptoms of sufferers, and prescribe patent medicines warranted 
to effect an immediate cure. Spiritualism is propounded in this 
treatise as a sure relief and a safe remedy for the soul sickness 
that is prevalent among agnostics. Modern spiritualism, we are 
told, was initiated by a little girl named Kate Fox, in the year 
1848, at Hydersville, New York. With the phenomena of auto- 
matic writing, clairvoyance, and trance-speaking, through the 
interposition of what they call mediums, we have become too 
well acquainted, through the impostures that have been recently 



330 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

practised on credulous victims. There would seem, however, to 
be educated people on the face of this queer world who not only 
themselves believe in these lying wonders, but think that the 
Scriptures give countenance to them. "Was not young Samuel 
a medium?" they will ask us. We shrink with horror from every 
species of sorcery. In the hands of some interpreters the Bible 
is made to teach anything they like to impute to it. 

The Epoch of the Ma7u?noth, and the Apparition of Man on the Earth. 

This is not a theological work, although it is evidently designed 
to serve a theological end. By the citation of numerous scientific 
facts it aims to refute certain scientific hypotheses that have too 
easily become popular in this age of pyrrhonism, and so to recon- 
cile the results of scientific research with the received interpre- 
tation of Scripture. The Christian philosopher is not in fashion 
just now. He gets the cold shoulder in scientific circles. Such 
circles are very select, and the evidence they admit is rather 
exclusive. After pursuing their inquiry into the operations of 
nature with commendable patience, they perplex themselves with 
endless conjectures as to the explanation of the conflicting phe- 
nomena which they have observed. The balance of probabilities 
has then to be discussed, and when the pros and cons come to be 
fairly poised, we are left in doubt on which side the verdict is to 
be entered. Of course it is of little consequence; for whether 
the fossil-man is to be carried back to the glacial age or not, 
counsel will be sure to move for a new trial before the rising of 
the court. Nor. is there any difficulty in showing cause. The 
field is large, new excavations are continually being made, the aid 
of stronger microscopic power is, persistently sought, and a keener 
sense of entire disinterestedness is emulated among students. 
Working on his own lines, Dr. Southall has produced a highly 
interesting volume. Assuming that pretty nearly all that can be 
known is known ( !) he sums up the evidence, and shows that the 
Scriptures have not been broken. At such an assumption the 
savans may smile : but the bias from which they vaunt themselves 
to be pure betrays itself too palpably. They are never pleased 
with any confirmation of the ancient archives ; nothing seems to 



REVIEWS. 331 

delight them more than to detect a semblance of discrepancy 
between sacred testimony and modern discovery. For our own 
part we hail the light that streams upward from the dark places 
of the earth. Archaeology, geology, and physical geography are 
the v^ery sciences that God has ordained to be His witnesses, to 
frustrate the tokens of liars, to make diviners mad, and to confirm 
the word of His servants the prophets. 

Popular Recreation : the Theatre as it is; and the Ober-Aimnergau Play. 
By Rev. C. Bullock, B.D. 

Mr. Bullock has done right well in smiting hip and thigh the 
modern theatre, which, by the confession even of the daily papers, 
which make no pretence of being rehgious, is growing more and 
more impure. How Christian men and women, above all how 
Christian ministers, can defend it, we cannot tell. We should like 
to scatter this httle book broadcast by thousands, and let our 
rising manhood and womanhood be taught to shun these nine- 
teenth-century lazar-houses. Well done, Mr. Bullock; more 
strength to your arm ! 

Studies ill the Gospel according to St. Matthew. By Rev. J. Cynddylan 

Jones. 

Yes, these sermons will do. They are far above the average 
of such productions, and have a dew upon them which sparkles 
and refreshes. We like everything in this worthy Welshman's 
book, although we cannot pronounce his name. 

What is Truth ? 'As it is manifested by considering the Creator., Creation., 
Revelation., and Man. 

We do not see how the author answers the question of the title. 
After trying in vain to read and understand this limp, yellow- 
covered emanation, we give it up in despair, and say: '' How we 
wish writers would have mercy upon readers, and at least put their 
nonsense in language that can be understood." Some styles of 
writing could fairly be described as "pea-soup" styles, — cloudy, 
thick, muddy ; but for ourselves we prefer clear, honest, downright 
Saxon. 



332 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The Fatherhood of God. 

One of the most poetic, beautiful, pseudo-philosophic, but alto- 
gether erroneous books on the Fatherhood of God which we ever 
read. As insidious and attractive as it can be, but altogether sub- 
versive of the very fundamental truths of the gospel concerning 
man's ruin, regeneration, and redemption. Our advice concerning 
it would be the same as given with respect to the proper way 
of preparing cucumber. " Carefully peel and slice it, flavor with 
pepper, salt, and vinegar, and then — eat it? Oh, no; tJirow it on 
the dunghill I " 

A Man every Inch of Hiiii : or, The Story of Frank Fullerton''s School-days. 
By J. Jackson Wray. 

Capital! first-rate! and every other adjective that will ex- 
press our unmingled admiration of this book of books for English 
boys. Once let it be seen and dipped into, and no boy will be 
able to rest until he has read to the end ; and then he '11 want 
more. Why, it kept us up long after bedtime, made us laugh 
and cry just as it liked, and, when we left off, set us longing to 
be young again, took the wrinkles out of our face, and almost 
made our creaking hmbs to grow supple ! Well done, Mr. Wray ! 
you have given young and old boys alike a treat, and in the name 
of boydom in general we vote you " a brick." It 's just the book 
for a Christmas-box, a birthday present, or a prize gift; and we 
hope will be as plentifully scattered as snowflakes in January. 

Poor Papa. 

We have had enough of this kind of literature. " Helen's 
Babies " . was clever and amusing, but one such book is quite 
enough for a generation : this poor and strained imitation of it 
might have been spared us. Are American children of the char- 
acter here depicted? Is the law of God, which bids children honor 
and obey their parents, regarded as an obsolete rule? We are 
sorry, indeed, if this be the case ! The rule of the household is 
the root and foundation of all government ; and where it is neg- 
lected boys will not grow up to be good citizens, nor will girls 



REVIEWS. 333 

become gracious wives. There are cases around us where chil- 
dren are allowed to be the tyrants of the family, but they are not 
so many as to be the rule, nor so glaring as to suggest a parallel 
case to that of '' Poor Papa." We should be very hard up for fun 
before we should waste an hour over such a poor affair as this. 

Everlasting PunisJwietit not Everlasting Fain. 

If assumption is as good as argument, and dogmatism as good 
as demonstration in proof of the truth of a position, then this 
pamphlet is unassailable, for it is full of dogmatic assumption. 
Instead of the infallible standard of Scripture we are constantly 
referred to the "■ instincts of humanity," and thus a kind of relig- 
ious rationalism is substituted in place of devout faith in the Bible 
and its declarations. We should fear the results of the publication 
of this pamphlet were it not as feeble as it is fallacious, — which 
is saying a great deal. Materialism, under the guise of annihila- 
tion, will need to get more manly and more powerful to win many 
converts ; and even then we shall prefer the manHness and power 
of Jesus Christ. 

Cough's Portrait. 

A FINE lithographed portrait of John B. Gough for one shilling. 
Seldom have we seen so striking a likeness ; you can almost hear 
him say, *' Water for me ! " 

Christianity and the Science of Religion. By Rev. J. S. Banks. 

It has become fashionable in certain quarters to assert that the 
Christian religion is only a development of man's genius. The 
Hibbert Lectures of Max Miiller and Renan have made this the- 
ory popular and plausible, and now, in place of a Word of God, 
the Scriptures are turned into a human evolution. Mr. Banks, 
whose knowledge of the Hindoo mind gained as a missionary 
gives him peculiar qualifications for the task, sets himself to dis- 
prove this from the facts of the Hindoo religion. And very pow- 
erful is the result. Ninety-nine Christians out of a hundred have 
never been troubled on the question ; but the hundredth, and 
Biblical students in general, will be greatly helped by this lecture. 



334 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Clear logic and relentless argument make the ghostly theories to 
fly before our author's piercing analysis; and after the mists and 
fogs are dissipated, there stands the Word of God as immovable 
a rock as ever. Well done, Mr. Banks ! 

The Christiaji's Plea against Moder7i Ujibelief. 

The argument, the author, and the auspices under which this 
treatise is brought out, all combine to bespeak for it a favorable 
consideration. As a manual, prepared at the request of '' The 
Christian Evidence Society," it deals mainly with the outworks of 
the Church's citadel. In discussing first principles — such as the 
existence of God, the possibility of revelation, the credibility of 
miracles, the fulfilment of prophecy, or the canon of Scripture — 
with professed sceptics and positive opponents of the gospel, those 
who plead for truth are often awkwardly apologetic. Too much 
deference is shown to the doubter, and if he has an academical 
degree, it is supposed to impart authority to his dogged disbelief. 
Mr. Redford has acquitted himself well in furnishing the Christian 
advocate with a systematic view, on the one hand, of the various 
phases of infideHty, skilfully focussed ; and, on the other hand, of 
the facts, historic or rational, which bear witness to those truths 
that cannot be shaken however much they may be assailed. But 
what about those individuals whose proclivities are in a greater 
or lesser degree atheistic? Have we an essay here that is Ukeh/ 
to reclaim them? Our author imagines that simple theism may 
become an adytum to the inner sanctuary of more select evi- 
dences. '' Like travellers passing through various regions [of 
desert land and cloudy atmosphere !], and being variously affected 
on the way; having reached the end of the journey, the retro- 
spect is an unbroken and restful assurance." We are not so 
sanguine. Such pilgrims to the promised land have never crossed 
our path. We have never witnessed any real converting power 
till we could get people within thoSe lines that he scrupulously 
avoids. To his idea it is not only permissible, but helpful, to 
separate the theism of Christianity from the doctrines of the 
Christian faith ; and the authority of Scripture from the interpre- 
tation of its contents; in a word, by reasoning, to break down 



REVIEWS. 335 

their negations without instructing them in any positives in Heu 
thereof. This is a curious experiment; but let a lady, who had 
studied more philosophy, ancient and modern, than the most of 
us, relate her experience in better words than we can aspire to : — 

" I read books bad and good — some bad and good 
At once ; (good aims not always make good books ; 
Well-tempered spades turn up ill-smelling soils 
In digging vineyards even) books that prove 
God's being so definitely, that man's doubt 
Grows self-defined the other side the line, 
Made atheist by suggestion." 

For other reasons than Mrs. Barrett Browning would assign, we 
are convinced that the cold logic of Christian evidences is a poor 
specific that has seldom or never proved a cure for unbelief That 
department of polite literature called Natural Religion leads 
nowhere and. profiteth nothing, so far as we could ever ascertain. 
It fills the air with volatile sentiment, and expresses itself in lack- 
adaisical phrases about *' the benevolence of the Creator," " the 
beauty of His works," or " the traces of design that are scattered 
through the universe." Simple theism -is a paltry subterfuge. 
What these poor souls need is saving faith. Why should we dally 
with their prejudices? The first postulate is this: "He that com- 
eth to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of 
them that diligently seek Him." The second postulate is : ** He 
that believeth in God must accept Christ as a mediator." And 
the third postulate is : " He that accepteth the one Mediator 
between God and men must receive the atonement." Or other- 
wise, should the honest sceptic be persuaded to acknowledge a 
Deity, he cannot possibly rejoice in God or sing praises unto the 
Lord with the spirit and the understanding. For a Christian min- 
ister to plead with an infidel to become a theist sounds prepos- 
terous to us. If it is only an initiative, yet it is such an initiative 
as one might use in attempting gradually to reform criminals by 
entreating burglars not to carry firearms. The ministry of the 
Holy Spirit knows no half measures. 

On the works of fiction sent him for review, Mr. Spurgeon 
writes : We confess that the heaps of tale-books are not person- 



336 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

ally perused by us ; we would sooner break stones. As folks will 
have these religious fictions, we do our best to let them know 
which of them are well-intentioned, but we do not advise the 
reading of them to any great extent. A little pastry may be all 
very well (our slow digestion suggests that the less the better), 
but to live upon it would be to generate dyspepsia and all sorts 
of ills ; even so, an interesting story now and again may be a relief 
and a pleasure, but a constant course of such reading must injure 
both mind and heart. From the quantity of fiction which we 
have lately received we should think that its perusal needs no 
encouraging, and a little repression might be healthy. 

Holy-Days and Holidays. 

Although most of these holy-days and holidays are the off- 
spring of sheer superstition, yet we may as well know the ways and 
follies of our neighbors, and this book sets them forth in a pleasant 
manner. It is clear that our forefathers in the days of " merrie 
England " went very earnestly into the work of making fools of 
themselves. 

The Doctrines of Annihilaiion and Universalisjn viewed in the Light of 
Reason^ Analogy^ and Revelation. 

This is a second edition of a work which we favorably reviewed 
some two years ago. It is now furnished with additional notes on 
*' Salvator Mundi." It is a good antidote to the pernicious as- 
sumptions of the Universalist school, and therefore it deserves a 
large sale; but we are sick of the whole controversy. It is a 
remarkable thing to note the limited range of heresy, and how 
it is obliged to dish up its old, old fragments, and palm them off 
as novelties labelled " Modern Thought." 

John Ploughman's Talk. By C. H. Spurgeon. Three Hundred and Tenth 

Thousand. 

The sale of our book has amazed its author. It has been said 
that it is not original, but only a number of proverbs strung 
together : this is strictly true, and no one is more ready to own it 
than John Ploughman ; but why did not some one else carry out 



REVIEWS. 337 

the idea of putting proverbs together? Any one can make an 
egg stand on its end when once he has seen it done. Our book is 
simpHcity itself, and quite devoid of genius, and yet here it is, in a 
new edition, selhng still after three hundred thousand have gone 
forth. We thought it time to improve the shape of the book and 
throw in a few engravings, and now we hope that John Ploughman 
will take a new lease and run on to half a million. Its strength lies 
in the wholesome proverbs which are floating about everywhere, but 
have here been diligently collected and congenially dovetailed so 
as to make up lively, continuous reading, intended to convey good 
morals to the myriads of working men who will never read that 
which is dull and dreary, however profound may be the instruction 
contained therein. 

77ie Unwelcoine Baby, and what became of Him. 

" The Unwelcome Baby " is the Rev. John Todd, and this book 
commences with his life. The title looks to us a little like a dodge 
for selling the book, for " The Unwelcome Baby " only occupies a 
third part of it, and the rest is made up of .the lives of John Cole- 
ridge Patteson, Mary Fletcher, Alfred Cookman, Fidelia Fiske, 
and Emile Cook. We shall never cease to protest against this 
radically false method of naming a book from one of its articles. 
In this case, should anybody be led to buy the book by the title 
he will be able to put it into the hand of a youngster without fear, 
or rather with the full hope that it will do him good. 

Crockej', the Clown. 

If any young gentleman should be inspired with the ambition 
of figuring in a travelling show, he will probably be delivered from 
the infatuation by reading this amusing history of Jameson's Grand 
American Circus. We believe that such books as this answer a 
real and practical purpose by dispelling the false charms which 
surround theatrical performances. If somebody would write a 
book to take the glory out of " Robinson Crusoe," it would be 
one of the best works of our generation, for multitudes of lads 
are no doubt led astray and ruined for practical business purposes 
by that masterpiece of fiction. 

22 



338 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The Masque Tor?i Off. By T. de Witt Talmage, D. D. 

With Mr. Talmage In preaching the gospel we are heartily at 
one, but from Mr. Talmage as an amateur detective we part com- 
pany. It may not only be right to enter the dens of New York 
in order to expose their evils, but it may even be heroic to do so: 
it is not, however, a work which we would undertake for any con- 
sideration, nor one from which, according to our judgment, any 
great benefit can arise. Mr. Talmage seems to us to make small 
progress in depth of spirituality and fulness of divine experience, 
but to be straining himself to say striking things. This is not a 
state of things to be commended, and we hope that the preacher 
will grow out of it ; at the same time we are sure that his sermons 
have charms for many minds, and that they do not deserve the 
savage condemnation which critics have poured upon them. 

Ijifidclity Refuted : or., The Chi'istian Safeg7iard against its Errors. 

Externally this book is singularly unattractive, for the paper 
cover does not bear a line or word of title; but within there is 
much to commend. Persons in doubt as to vital truths will be 
helped by the clear, logical arguments here put In order; and 
those who seek the conversion of the sceptic will find In this 
treatise a powerful weapon for defence and attack. The form of 
question and answer spoils a book for consecutive reading, but It 
has its advantages when the object is controversy. If any of our 
readers are driven Into contact with Atheists, and desire a handy 
book which may aid them in defending the truth, we would urge 
them to purchase Mr. Preston's little work. 

Companion to the Revised Version of the English A^ew Testament. 
By A. Roberts, D. D. 

Every student of the Bible who can aff"ord half-a-crown should 
get this most useful and entertaining volume. It contains the sort 
of reading which has the most charm for us, for It deals with the 
Scriptures themselves and their meaning In a most pleasant man- 
ner. Reading this *' Companion," the alterations of the Revised 
Version become vastly more intelligible ; for one sees the why 



REVIEWS. 339 

and the wherefore for each of them. Sitting down to these pages 
with the two versions before us we forget all the worries of life, 
and beguile the hour in a manner which leaves substantial profit 
behind. Even if the reader should be Innocent of Greek, Dr. 
Roberts will give him abundant instruction; but if he has a tlior- 
ough acquaintance with the sacred tongue he will not find the 
\^iork superfluous. We take the utmost pleasure in commending 
the little book to^all Christian people, especially to those who are 
teachers of others. 

A Reason for the Hope that is m You : or, What the Baptists Believe, and 
Why. By Rev. W. Hanson. 

Thi-S Is a well-written manual, very instructive and convincing. 
It deserves to be studied by all our Baptist Bible-classes, that our 
young people may know what their fathers believe, and why. 
There Is a remarkable clearness and completeness about the work 
for so small a book, and its tone is all that could be desired. It 
deserves to be bought by every Baptist, and then le^t or given to 
those who as yet have not entered into .our liberty. We might 
differ from the writer here and there, but we much prefer to take 
off our hat and say, " Mr. Hanson, we are all obliged to you." 

The Philosophy of Science, Experience, and Revelatio?i. 

We have heard of metaphysics being defined as '' an attempt 
to tell another what you do not understand yourself; " and such 
a description would well apply to the philosophy which the author 
of this work tries to expound. Everything in heaven and in earth 
Is dabbled In ; and, where confusion already existed, it is worse 
confounded by this attempt at explanation. The climax of ab- 
surdity is reached when we are told that for man to be renewed 
In the divine Image, all that Is needed Is the study of the example 
of Jesus Christ. For " to redeem man the Invisible God manifests 
Himself as man, and by His life in Jesus Christ shows to men a 
perfect example of how they ought to live, and to teach them 
that since God has found a means of being gracious to them, they 
ought also to be gracious and forgiving towards each other," — a 
mixture of diluted Socinianism and metaphysical muddle. 



340 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Ser7itons. By the Rev. Phillips Brooks. 

These sermons would never have been brought under public 
notice if they had not come from a rector of an Episcopal church 
at Boston, in America, — and had they not possessed the modern 
attraction of originality of thought struggling for expression in 
a loose and irregular style. They are more rational than evan- 
gelical, more intellectual than rational, and more emotional than 
mtellectual. How far the two extremes of this book and the 
New Testament are apart may be judged by one brief quotation : 
" Such, then, is the story of Christ's crucifixion, in and with and 
for humanity. It is no fantastic conception of the imputation to 
Him of a sinfulness which was not His, of God's counting Him 
guilty of wickedness which He had never done. It is something 
infinitely, awfully more real than that." If we inquire what that 
something is, we are told it is an example of self-sacrifice, or dying 
unto sin. Such sermons, and their name is legion, remind us of 
those words of the far-seeing Isaiah : " Behold, all ye that kindle 
a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks : walk in the 
light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This 
shall ye have of mine hand ; ye shall lie down in sorrow." " This 
verse," a certain commentator observes, *' is addressed to the 
Pharisees and Sadducees, and such as refuse the light of the 
Divine Word, but kindle a fire of their own, compassing them- 
selves about with false doctrines and corrupting the truth. The 
power of Christ shall extinguish all such, and envelop them with 
darkness and despair." It is not surely with unrighteous indigna- 
tion that we thus speak, when we see those in high places of the 
Church on both sides of the Atlantic who, when for the time 
they ought to be teachers, have need that one teach them again 
which be the first principles of the oracles of God. 

Social Fur iiy : a7i Address. By Josephine E. Butler. 

We are sorry that there should be need for a lady to deliver 
such an address, but as there is such a need we rejoice that the 
woman is forthcoming who is not ashamed to vindicate her sex. 
We live in a wretched age, when princes and peers have thought 



REVIEWS. 341 

it an honor to enjoy the society of a strumpet, and Christian 
newspapers advocate the theatre. Contagious diseases acts are 
passed to make it safe for men to sin, and hcenses are issued 
for the torturing of dumb animals. It is enough to make the 
stones to speak, and we wonder not that women, bursting through 
their natural retirement, rush forward to plead for chastity and 
humanity while there is yet a rehc of it left. May the Social 
Purity Alliance prosper so greatly that its lady members may yet 
be able to hold their tongues, and keep clear consciences too. 

Thought Blossoms^ gathered at Richmond. By J. Hunt Cooke. 

Real poetry ! A rare thing to find much of that article among 
the rhymes which come to us in bewildering profusion. But this 
little, limp, thin affair is not of the common order after all. We 
groaned as we picked it up, " Poetry again ! " or did we say 
Pool'- try ? However, we groan no longer, for we have been re- 
warded for our pains by finding amid the ore far more numerous 
traces of precious metal than we are wont to discover. Mr. Cooke 
does not rival Cowper or Young, but he sings very sweetly, and 
strikes out many living thoughts. Here are voices from among 
the trees, well rendered into the language of mortals : — 

THE VOICES OF THE WIND. 

" Diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." — i Cor. xii. 4. 

I lay in a grove one noonday clear, 

And listened, the language of trees to hear. 

The selfsame wind that gave them speech 
A different message spoke through each. 

The elm, that towered in majestic height, 
Told of a rushing, unseen might. 

The willow, that stood the river by. 

Said, " life was sad," with a long-drawn sigh. 

The poplar, whose head so high was reared, 
Shrieked with alarm, for he danger feared. 

The birch, with whispering long and low, 
Hinted at mystery none might know. 



342 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The oak upreared a noble form, 

But solemnly spoke of the power of storm. 

The beech clapt together its thousand hands, 
And seemed to rejoice in the wind's commands. 

The firs in deep low thunder tones 

Declared that the breeze came laden with moans. 

The linden in whispers seemed to tell, 
Though life was mystery all was well. 

To each the wind had revealed the same, 
But from each a different utterance came. 

So does a rumor to men appear, — 
To some it brings joy, to others fear. 

Some, dark spots on the sun will find; 
Some, that each cloud is silver-lined. 

Thus the Spirit of God, in various ways, 
By men declares His glorious praise. 

In each some diverse gift we see, 
And learn a lesson of charity. 

For harmony only beautifies. 
When different sounds together rise. 



On a Book on Cookery. 

From our domestic department comes the verdict, " Very good." 
If we could multiply Mrs. Warren, in fact, have a warren of War- 
rens, what a blessing it would be ! Cleanliness is next to godliness, 
and cookery is next to cleanliness. How many times a man is made 
to sin by seeing good meat spoiled, and excellent food served up 
in a dirty, sickening manner. Surely it was a grievous temptation 
to wrath when a hungry traveMer ordered chops at an inn within a 
hundred miles of London, and had them served up swimming in 
greasy, watery gravy — fried ! He had been hoping to have them 
fresh from a clear fire, — but he was assured that they did not 
cook chops in that way in this part of the country. It is time 
that missionaries should be sent into such a benighted region. 
Half the food that is eaten in England is spoiled before it comes 
to table. Working men's wiv^es, many of them, need to learn to 



REVIEWS. 343 

cook ; and to teach them this science would go far towards making 
their homes comfortable and their husbands sober. It is a pity that 
the animal, man, should be so much governed by his food, but it 
is so, and therefore those who would keep a man good-tempered, 
especially an Englishman, should know how to cook his victuals 
for him. There is more religion in making home comfortable and 
cooking food properly than in all the millinery and horticulture of 
High-Church ceremonials. 

Mrs. Warren's book is a valuable help to housewives. 

A Book of Remembrance in Relation to the Mystery of God. 

We give it up. The author, probably, had some meaning upon 
his mind when he wrote his book, but he has concealed it by 
his words. W^e have tried a friend or two, getting them to read 
a page or so, but, like ourselves, they were dead beaten before 
long, and declared that they could neither make top nor tail of it. 
Distant approximations to sense occur, but they only tempt the 
reader onward into some sentences so obscure that he finds him- 
self utterly lost. If anybody wishes to be completely confused 
and bewildered, let him read this book. 



344 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM LXXXII. 



The kings of earth are in the hands 

Of God who reigns on high, 
He in their council -chamber stands, 

And sees with watchful eye. 

Though foolish princes tyrants prove, 

And tread the godly down, 
Though earth's foundations all remove, 

He weareth still the crown. 

They proudly boast a godlike birth, 

In death, like men, they fall 
Arise, O God, and judge the earth. 

And rule the nations all. 

When shall Thy Son, the Prince of Peace, 

Descend with glorious power ? 
Then only shall oppression cease : 

Oh, haste the welcome hour. 

C. H. Spurgeon. 



XXV. 
LETTERS. 



The object of the gospel is not to make men anxious, but to calm ^their 
anxieties ; not to fill them with endless controversy, but to lead them into all 
truth. The gospel gives rest of conscience by the complete forgiveness of sin 
through the atoning blood of Christ ; rest of heart by supplying an object for 
the affections worthy of their love; and rest of intellect by teaching it cer- 
tainties which can be accepted without question. Our message does not 
consist of things guessed at by wit, nor evolved out of man's inner conscious- 
ness by study, nor developed by argument through human reason ; but it treats 
of revealed certainties, absolutely and infallibly true, upon which the under- 
standing may rest itself as thoroughly as a building rests upon a foundation of 
rock. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



LETTERS. 



MR. SPURGEON'S correspondence is simply voluminous. 
We were present on one occasion when his mail-bag 
arrived, and soon hundreds of letters lay piled on his table. 
Naturally, while human nature is what it is, he is questioned on 
every subject in heaven, and earth, and under the earth. Thou- 
sands of letters in the year must reach the waste-basket, but no 
letter of importance escapes his notice, and he is occupied for 
hours each Saturday answering correspondents. Many letters 
reach him, extracts of which find their way to the pages of his 
magazine. The preacher who receives them must feel deeply 
thankful that he is so highly honored of God in the ministry of 
the gospel. Many of them possess peculiar interest, and to 
gratify our readers we subjoin specimen copies. Their publication 
is not designed to glorify the preacher, but to magnify the grace 
of God in him and benefit each reader by their perusal. 

A friend in Sydney writes as follows : — 

" Dear Mr. Spurgeon, — It seems natural when help is given 
to acknowledge it, and I hope, therefore, you will not think that I 
am taking a liberty in writing to thank you for the great assistance 
you have been to me personally through the medium of two of 
your published sermons. 

*' The two sermons I refer to were entitled * Prayer Perfumed 
with Praise' (No. 1469), and 'Mistrust of God Deplored and 
Denounced' (No. 1498). By reading these I have been led to 
exercise faith in a way never thought of before, and as a result 
have experienced a confidence sufficient to secure a long-desired 



348 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

blessing of a very practical kind ; and though the responsibility 
attaching to such new circumstances is great, the assurance given 
that I shall be upheld according to His Word, and not be ashamed 
of my hope, is far greater. 

"Allow me then, to thank you on my own behalf, and also on 
the part of another, for the blessing your sermons have been. 

From Victoria: — 

'' My dear Sir, — I have often felt Inclined to write you these 
last twelve years. At that time I lost a darling boy ; everything 
seemed dark, and nothing brought me any comfort. The Word 
of God, that had been my stay through many similar trials, was 
all darkness to me. A friend brought me one of your sermons, 
and asked me to allow her to read it. At first I refused, but at 
last consented. I forget the title, but it was that everything was 
ordered by God — no chance. I felt all the time my friend was 
reading afraid to breathe. I could only say, ' Go on, go on.' 
When she had finished it I leaped from my couch and said, * All 
is right, thank God, my dark mind is all light again.' I have had 
similar trials since, and many other trials, but I could say from 
my heart, ' Thy will be done, it is all right.' At this time my 
husband ordered your sermons monthly, and we still continue to 
do so. Every Sunday evening we read one of them aloud for all 
to hear, and afterwards I send them into ' the bush.' My dear sir, 
go on and preach what you feel. It has often been a great com- 
fort to us that you seemed to feel just as we felt." 

'' The son of red Kaffirs or raw Kaffirs " sends the following note 
from Port Elizabeth, South Africa: — 

"Dear Sir, — I don't know how to describe my joy and my 
feelings in this present moment. We never did see each other 
face to face, but still there is something between you and me 
which guided me to make these few lines for you. One day as I 
was going to my daily work I met a friend of mine in the street. 
We spoke about the Word of God, and he asked me whether I had 
ever seen one of Mr. Spurgeon's books. I said, ' What Mr. 
Spurgeon is that? One of the Independent ministers in London?' 
and I said, ' No, I never saw such a book in my life.' He said he 
bought it from the bookseller. I asked the name of the book, 



LETTERS. 349 

and he said it was the ' Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit/ and I 
went straight to the shop and bought one. I liave read a good 
bit of it. On my reading it I arrived on a place where Job said : 
'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' I am sure I can't 
tell how to describe the goodness you have done to us, we black 
people of South Africa. We are not black only outside, even 
inside; I wouldn't mind to be a black man only in color. It is a 
terrible thing to be a black man from the soul to the skin ; but 
still I am very glad to say your sermons have done something 
good to m3. May the Lord bless your efforts and prosper your 
work ! May it please Him to gain many sons into His glory 
through you as His instrument, not only in London, but also in 
Africa ! " 

From Denmark: "Through twelve of your sermons, which are 
translated into Danish, I and my household have this winter been 
acquainted with your Christian announcement, and we thank you 
for every clearing and edifying word. We seceded from the Estab- 
lished Church a year ago, because we have so evidently seen the 
tragical consequences of the connection -between the Church and 
the State, and we could not possibly act contrary to the convic- 
tion forced upon us by the reading of the New Testament, viz., 
the incorrectness of the infant baptism." 

Two missionaries in one of the isles of Greece write : ** We 
read every Sunday a sermon ; many times it is one of your 
sermons. Last Sunday the one we read was ' The Good Sama- 
ritan ' (No. 1360). It made a deep impression on our minds. 
Your sermons are to us like rain upon a dry land. We have no 
church to attend, and no friends to associate with." 

A Baptist minister in North America writes : ** Mr. Spurgeon's 
writings have done more for me than the writings of any other 
uninspired man. Indeed, his influence is felt the wide world over. 
In the backwoods of this island a dying man the other week con- 
fessed that his soul had been impressed and* enlightened by a 
sermon published in the 'Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit; ' while 
Baptists out here speak of ' praying for Mr. Spurgeon ' as a special 
duty. I have also discovered that preachers of other denomma- 
tions are using these sermons, from introduction to conclusion, 



350 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. IL SPURGEON. 

and after the service it is somewhat amusing to find the volume 
under the seat of the sieigh." 

The following touching epistle comes from Florida: — 

" My dear Brother in Christ, — Once upon a time a 
wealthy man, who owned many gardens, sent one of his gardeners 
to water the plants. The gardener went and adjusted the hose, 
turned the tap, and watered them far and near. Many of them 
were near him, but far away in a corner of the garden, farthest 
from the gardener, was a frail flower that had long been pining 
for the refreshing showers. The gardener, not knowing its need, 
nevertheless turned the hose in that direction, and the drooping 
plant revived and bloomed afresh, to delight all who chanced to 
come near it, and it loved the master and the insti'iLinent, though 
the latter was unknown. 

'' Several weeks ago I lay ill, far away from London, in the wilds 
of Florida. Weak and faint-hearted, I lay pondering on' the strange 
providence of the Master, when one of your sermons was placed 
in my hands. The refreshing shower revived me and gave me 
fresh hope and courage, and I rose from my sick couch to strive 
still more earnestly to gain access to the hearts of those by whom 
I am surrounded, and to-day, in a small class that I have formed 
out here in the wilderness, the Lord made His presence felt, and 
blessed us with an awakening that I have never seen here before, 
and tears of repentance were shed by many. I was so full of 
joy and gratitude to God that I felt, indeed I longed, to let you 
know that your influence as an mstrument had even reached this 
place." 

From Michigan : " I have read your sermons many years, 
they are marrow and fatness to my soul. Toil on, O servant of 
Jesus ! You gave me a pretty good lesson in your sermon entitled 
'The Dromedaries' (No. 1504). I enclose you twenty-five dollars 
to buy ' straw' for your dromedaries ; I leave the word ' barley ' for 
such persons as the lady who gave ;^20,ooo. I have just been 
reading ' John Ploughman's Talk.' I think you are pretty tough 
on us slow folks ; but if we all could keep up with you, don't you 
think the world would run off her track in less than twenty-four 
hours?" 



LETTERS. 351 

From Quebec : — 

" My dear Sir, — Since reading a sermon delivered by you a 
long time ago on the text, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved' (No. 293), and in which you set forth the 
great sin of unbelief, I have felt a strong desire to write to you and 
strengthen your hands by letting you know that your labor is not 
in vain, as I, for one, can testify to the great good derived from 
that and other sermons of yours. My father, before we left Scot- 
land, seven years ago, always got your sermons, as well as your 
* Sword and Trowel,' and having derived great benefit from them, 
he carefully put them away.. About a year ago my brother sent 
me a few of those old sermons, which I read, and, glory be to God ! 
opened my eyes while reading that sermon, and since then I have 
found peace in believing." 

One of Mr. Spurgeon's elders sent him the following letter: — 

" My dear Sir, — At a meeting last night I heard the following 
statement, which I think you will be pleased with : A member of 
one of our London churches said that, being an engineer, he had 
to reside 'for some little time in a foreign'town, the name of which 
I did not catch, w^here he was entirely surrounded by Portuguese. 
He said it was very sweet to meet an Englishman anywhere under 
such circumstances to converse in his native tongue. He heard 
that there was an Englishman confined for life in the prison, and 
he determined to call on him and speak to him respecting the 
love of God to sinners. He got permission to see him, and having 
entered the prison, commenced at once speaking to him through 
the iron grating. The poor convict then told him that, a few years 
before, that, a young Englishman called upon him in a similar 
manner and left behind some English novels, but between the 
leaves of one of the novels there was a sermon w^ilch had been 
preached in Exeter Hall, in 1856, by C. H. Spurgeon. The con- 
vict read it. It was upon 'Salvation to the Uttermost' (No. 84), 
and it referred to the murderer Palmer, then under sentence of 
death. The words entered into his heart, and he immediately 
knelt down in his cell and cried for pardon, and he received a 
sense of forgiveness on the spot, and he was still rejoicing in the 
assurance that God for Christ's sake had forgiven him. He told 



352 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Mr. B. that he had no hope of hberty in this hfe, but he was 
nevertheless rejoicing in the glorious hope set before him in the 
gospel." 

The following letter refers to the fifteen-hundredth published 
sermon, "Number 1500 ; or, Lifting up the Brazen Serpent," 
preached in October, 188 1 : — 

"Dear Sir, — Yesterday morning my brother passed from us 
at daybreak. Though unknown to you, I think you will like to 
hear something he said. On Tuesday evening I asked him, 

* What can I do to be as happy as you? ' He answered with diffi- 
culty, 'It's all in "Instant Salvation." and Number 1500.' Many 
times he has talked of Number 1500, and has directed me to send 
one to his brother. A member of your congregation sent me 
Number 1500 in a letter to him, a sort of sly way, perhaps, of 
giving it to him. A passer-by on St. Leonard's Parade gave him 

* Instant Salvation.' Sir, my brother's words were, ' Only Jesus, 
nothing but Jesus ; Jesus ! Jesus ! ' and he passed away without 
suffering, perfectly easy, pleasant, contented, joyous, and trium- 
phant, and fully conscious up to five minutes from his death, so 
gently that I, a medical man, cannot say when he died — not the 
slightest struggle, only a gradually increasing stillness. Sir, if this 
letter be like a 'well done ' from the Lord through the voice of my 
brother to you, I am glad, as it will give you pleasure. Don't , 
trouble to answer, I am not a Baptist, but a Church of England 
man." 

The following cheering note comes from the United States: " It 
will refresh your heart to learn that a beloved pastor in this coun- 
try (whose teaching and preaching are a striking contrast to the 
vapid utterances of the humanitarians and sentimentalists who 
abound in all our cities) received through your ministry some 
years ago a very great blessing. He visited England, and planned 
to hear all the men of note in London. On his arrival he hap- 
pened to learn that you were to speak one afternoon in the 
neighborhood of his hotel. That sermon did him so much good 
that he followed you around, and during his six weeks in London 
heard no other preacher. Your vindication of God's grace and 
advocacy of His sovereignty in salvation, and your clear presenta- 



LETTERS. 353 

tion of faith and assurance so filled him and confirmed his own 
views of divine truth, that he returned to his own country strong 
in the Lord and in the power of His might He often speaks of 
that visit, and I have heard him frequently thank God for your 
ministry. He is truly a witness to the sufficiency of the Atone- 
ment, and a noble opposer of that science, falsely so called, which 
belittles the word of revelation." 

A minister in St. Petersburg, Russia, sends the following: ''By 
your sermons, etc., you are having a part in the great work of 
spreading Christ's kingdom both in St. Petersburg and in the 
interior. You are well known among the priests, who seem glad 
to get hold of your translated sermons, and, strange to say, I 
know cases in which the censor has readily given consent for your 
works to be translated when he has been reluctant respecting 
many." 

Mr. Spurgeon adds : " Another friend in the same city, who 
distributes our sermons, says that he gave one recently to an old 
Russian pope, or priest, who called upon him one Sunday while 
engaged at family prayer, and tried to sell him some pork. He 
says that he will get all the other sermons that are translated, and 
give them to as many popes as he can find access to." 

A Christian sister in India writes : '' I enclose you a note which 
I received from a Mussulman to whom I had lent a book of your 
sermons, and I request your prayers on his behalf, that he may 
have grace given him to profess Christ openly, and to come out 

from Mahometanism." Here is the note : '' My dear Miss . 

Your sermon-book has, indeed, converted me to Christianity. I 
do believe in Christ our Lord, and so long as my belief in Him is 
firmly rooted, I do not care what I may be called in the outer 
world. Mr. Spurgeon appears to be an extraordinary man." 

From Germany comes the following unsolicited testimony to 
the value of " The Treasury of David : " "I mailed one volume 
of * The Treasury ' to Dr. Zoekler, and requested him to give me 
his opinion of it. Dr. Zoekler is considered (even among German 
pastors) a great bookworm, and I was a little curious to see what 
he would say. He declared the Commentary to be ' a museum of 
spiritual treasures,' and thought the publication of it would be to 

23 



354 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON, 

most German theologians like the discovery of ancient Troy by 
Schliemann. My Lutheran neighbors beg me to have the work 
done, if not for money, still for the good it would do, and they 
beg for the whole work. . . . There is nothing which might 
benefit Germany more than the publication of this work." 

Pastor Spurgeon adds : " A friend informs us that in Toulon, 
the great seaport and naval arsenal in the southeast of France, 
where there are many artisans and multitudes of sailors, a work 
similar to that of Mr. McAll in Paris has been commenced by M. 
Massis, a Protestant pastor, assisted by his wife and a missionary. 
Several rooms have been opened for preaching, and converts 
gathered for worship and work. Recently, when both M. Massis 
and his helper were compulsorily absent from the service, one of 
the converts undertook to lead the singing and prayer, but, being 
unable to preach, he read the French translation of our sermon, 
'Remember Lot's Wife' (No. 1491), and this was the means of 
the conversion of a whole family." 

** Another friend, who conducts services in a Hampshire village 
where a new chapel is being built, tells us that every Sunday 
evening for the last four years he has preached there, but being 
engaged in business all the week he cannot give much time to 
study. He says that he has, therefore, taken our sermons regu- 
larly, got all the marrow he could out of them, copied out the 
leading thoughts, lived in the subject all the week, and then given 
out to the people the honey he has gathered. He adds that God 
has blessed this system of working to the salvation of souls and 
the edification of believers, and that this way of proclaiming the 
truth has also interested the congregation." 

A fisherman in Scotland sends the following pleasing account of 
his conversion : *' I remember a colporteur coming to my mother's 
house, and he asked me if I would buy a book. 'Yes,' says I, * if 
you have got any ballads,' that is, Scotch songs. So he says to 
me: 'If you give me a piece of fish I wilj' give you something 
that will do you more good than ballads.' I saw he desired 
my good, so I gave him half a codfish, and he gave me one of 
your sermons. The text was : ' Look unto Me, and be ye saved, 
all the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else ' 



LETTERS. 355 

(' Sovereignty and Salvation,' No. 60). While reading that ser- 
mon the blessed Spirit of God enlightened my understanding, and 
I saw Jesus set before me as my Saviour. Blessed hour ! Happy 
day ! Jesus washed my sins away." 

The secretary of the China Inland IMission writes : " This morn- 
ing I received from one of our missionaries in China a letter, 
from which the following is an extract: *I just want to tell you 
one thing, which is the principal object I had in writing you this 
time. In " China's iMillions," of December, I think it is, you men- 
tioned at one of the farewell meetings held on behalf of ^lessrs. 
Cooper, Protheroe, and Thompson, that besides Cooper there was 
another in China (Hunnex, I presume) who had been led to offer 
himself for the work through Mr. Spurgeon's sermon, " The 
Divine Call for Missionaries" (No. 1351). It was that ''call" 
that led me to offer myself to the C. I. M. ; previous to that I 
had thought (D.V.) of applying to the London Missionary Soci- 
ety ; but that call gave me no rest nor peace of mind till I had 
applied to the C. I. M., till I had read the "IMillions" sent dow^n 
for my perusal, till I had again applied, filled up the form, and 
gone to London. So there are three working in connection with 
the C. I. M. who were led to give themselves for work in China 
through Mr. Spurgeon's sermon.' " 

A minister from Tennessee recently bore the following personal 
testimony : ** Nine years ago I was a wild young man, but I was 
converted through reading one of Mr. Spurgeon's sermons, and I 
am now the minister of a large and influential church. The Lord's 
name be magnified ! " 

One of the students recently received an application for baptism 
from a young Swiss lady, who gave this testimony: " My parents 
were members of the Protestant Established Church in Switzer- 
land ; but though I attended the ordinances and observed the 
ceremonies, I always felt that I was a hypocrite, for I never be- 
lieved in them, but desired something which I could not get in 
the church. When I came to England I read a sermon by Mr. 
Spurgeon, which did me good. ' John Ploughman's Talk,' though 
funny, was made a great blessing to me. I then bought his 
sermons, and read them, and I am now happy to say that I am 



356 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

trusting in Jesus. When I return home I shall distribute these 
sermons which have been so blessed to me." 

Mr. F. H. Newton, of the German Baptist Mission, writes: 
" I have just returned from a visit to several of our German 
churches, and especially of those in Russia. I feel sure you will 
be interested to learn that your printed words (in German) have 
always free admission into Russia, which is saying a great deal, 
the only exception being in the case of your sermon on * Bap- 
tismal Regeneration' (No. 573), which one of our brethren 
translated into Russian and submitted to the censor of the press, 
who, however, refused to sanction it, as he considered it an attack 
upon the Greek Church. The brother still hopes to be permitted 
to print it." 

From the State of Virginia comes the following pleasing testi- 
mony : " Some years ago, when in the gall of bitterness and the 
bonds of iniquity, without God and without hope in the world, I 
was persuaded by a friend to read a volume of your sermons, and 
now, my dear sir, let me tell you that if ever I felt the love of God 
shed abroad in my heart, or knew the truth as it is in Jesus, I owe 
it to the perusal of your sermons, and I am sure you were the 
means and instrument in the hands of God of my conversion." 

'* In recent numbers of ' The Sword and the Trowel ' several 
instances have been given of the good effects of Spurgeon's ser- 
mons ; will you allow the writer to add one more ? In one of 
our resorts for invalids in the Midland Counties is a man of almost 
world-wide distinction, but who was better known thirty or forty 
years ago than he is to-day. His history is brimful of interesting 
incidents, and, when written, will be one of the most remarkable in 
modern times. He has seen eighty-eight summers, and though 
his natural force is abated and his eyes somewhat dimmed, he 
can, with the aid of a lens, see to read the daily papers, and is 
conversant with all the current events in national and social life. 
He is as sensitive as a barometer to any change in the diplomacy 
of the courts of Europe, and especially is this the case with any- 
thing connected with the tribes of Israel and their restoration to 
their own land. He has crossed the desert to visit Palestine, and 
on his first visit was accompanied by Dr. Black (who spoke nine- 



LETTERS. 357 

teen languages), McCheyne, and Bonar. He has been the con- 
temporary of some of the most distinguished divines, physicians, 
and writers that Scotland has ever known. He is now confined to 
his bed, from which he knows he will never be lifted until he is 
carried to the place of sepulchre. Not a murmur, however, 
escapes his lips. He has the piety of a saint and the simplicity 
of a child ; but you can see the old fire burn when the founda- 
tion truths are assailed by men of modern thought. His chief 
joy on the Sabbath, dear Mr. Editor, is to hear one of your ser- 
mons. The reader is a little maid ; and he avows that he has the 
best preacher and hears the best sermon in the town. Need I say 
that our aged friend is Dr. Alexander Keith, the author of ' The 
Evidence of Prophecy* and other valuable works. I am not 
commissioned by the seer to send you the above, but I ani 
commissioned to give you his grateful thanks for the rich feast 
you give him. He, moreover, wished me to say that, while spend- 
ing the winter at the Bridge of Allan, two or three years ago, 
your sermons were read by invalids in five separate rooms of the 
same establishment every Sunday. Many prayers go up daily to 
heaven for the continuance of your health and life, but not the 
least fervent come from the lips of this dear old man." 

A brother minister, who signs himself " A Daily Petitioner at 
the Throne of Grace on your behalf," sends the following note : 
** About September, 1869, I attended the Tabernacle in company 
with my \vife on a Thursday evening. Your text was : ' And Lot 
. . . pitched his tent toward Sodom.' As I listened to your earn- 
est appeals, especially to Christians, my soul was stirred to its 
depths, and I could not but bedew the seat in the gallery with 
my tears. I felt a new baptism of love for souls, and returning 
home we both dedicated ourselves afresh to God, to spend and 
to be spent for those who know not the Saviour. I can truthfully 
say I have a measure of that power with me up to the present 
time, and since that memorable occasion I trust I have been ena- 
bled, both in the open air and in chapels, to win many souls for 
my Master, some of whom are gone home, and others are on the 
journey. To Him be all the praise ! " 

A friend in Jersey, in sending a donation for the Girls' Orphan- 



358 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

age, writes : '' I have been a reader of your sermons these seven- 
teen years or more, having had sent to me monthly the Austrahan 
papers in which they appear weekly. God has been graciously 
pleased to bless them to the salvation of my soul. I had almost 
begun to think my Saviour had forgotten me. I knew I had long 
ignored Him. I have lately found out the way to procure them in 
any number, and have gladly availed myself of it. I think I have 
now near six hundred of them. I lend them out in books of fifty. 
I prize them above every other means of grace save the Book. As 
you so frequently want money for the good works in which you 
are always engaged, I thought you would not despise my trifle. I 
wish it were fifty times as much. . . . Receive my sincere and 
heartfelt thanks for the unspeakable good your sermons have 
afforded and still afford me." 

A friend in Glasgow, who signs himself '* Your Loving Son in 
Jesus," gives the following particulars of blessing received from 
one of the sermons : "■ About two years ago a sermon of yours 
entitled 'The Search Warrant' appeared in the 'Christian Herald.' 
I had been anxious long before, but the Wednesday evening that 
this sermon came I went away into the country to read it. Oh, I 
was in earnest that night ! When I was sure I was alone I stood 
and cried to God in prayer. In this prayer I was led to ask but 
one thing, — namely, that Spurgeon's sermon might be the means 
of saving my soul that night. I opened the paper and read it 
with great attention. The Spirit was with me, and when I got 
half-way through brought- home to me the words, ' the very sim- 
plicity of faith makes the difficulty.' I had always been searching 
for some dark, mysterious, hidden thing. Back I went to the 
beginning, with a firm resolve to read it simply. Then I saw how 
one thing after another was cast down, and Faith herself was made 
a standing-ground on which to place the only thing that I could 
see left in the whole sermon, — the beautiful, glorious, ' altogether 
lovely' form of our wounded Emmanuel. Christ was everywhere, 
and even myself had vanished, for I was a new creature. . . . 
Thank God for a Spurgeon to preach ' The Search Warrant ! " 

A friend writes from Manchester to tell us that her father, who 
has been a great drunkard for many years, has become a behever 



LETTERS. 359 

in the Lord Jesus, and has recently joined a Christian church. She 
says : '' It is all through reading your ' Seven Wonders of Grace.' " 

The following is an extract from a letter of one of the mission- 
aries of the China Inland Mission: *'We stayed over the Sabbath 
at Ts6ng-k6-bu. ... In the evening, after reading Mr. Spurgeon's 
sermon on * The Hiding of Moses by Faith ' (No. 1421), I gave 
the substance of it in Chinese to our native pastor and the preacher 
at the above place, and then with deep-felt earnestness I prayed 
God to spare dear Mr. Spurgeon to the Church of Christ and to 
the world for many years to come. The Chinese cannot pro- 
nounce ' Spurgeon ' correctly, so we call Mr. Spurgeon in this 
quarter * Sze Pah-jing/ — that is, 'The Successor or Continuator 
of a Hundred Virtues.' The word * hundred,' in Chinese, stands 
for an indefinite number." 

From Natal comes a cheering letter, which contains the follow- 
ing references to Mr. Spurgeon's sermons: " In i860 I emigrated 
to South Africa, and on board the ship ' John Masterman ' I re- 
ceived the first of your sermons I ever saw, and during our voyage 
they were read every Sabbath for divine service for the Presby- 
terian part of the passengers. I so loved your sermons that if 
I only got a spare leaf of one I treasured it and put it away. . . . 
I have a wife and eight children. I live on a small farm twelve 
miles away from my place of worship, and I have established a 
school on the farm, and with my own family, the schoolmaster, 
and some of the children, we muster a small band of from fifteen 
to twenty-two on the Lord's-day evening to read one of your loved 
and highly appreciated sermons ; and we seem to be as familiar 
with your name as if we met every Sabbath at the Tabernacle. I 
write this to let you know that even in this far-away place you 
have hearers that you knew not of. At the same time I take the 
opportunity of sending you the small sum of five pounds, which 
you can appropriate wherever it is most needed." 

The following pleasing note. comes from Russia: ''I came to 
this country about twenty-four years ago, and have been about in 
various parts of the interior ever since. Beyond having one vol- 
ume of your sermons, I have not been much acquainted with the 
extent of your progress until the past year, during which I have 



36o LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

taken in ' The Sword and Trowel.' Through it I have watched 
you with great interest and earnest prayer, and the first thing I fly 
to now on receiving a new number is your Personal Notes. ... I 
have a wife and eight children. A few weeks ago I explained to 
them the meaning of the Orphanage, and appealed to their feel- 
ings ; the result was that I was authorized to go to their savings* 
bank and take out three roubles forty kopecks as the children's 
contribution. We have now made up the sum to fifty-five roubles, 
which will be forwarded to you from St. Petersburg by a cheque. 
The amount should not be less than five pounds : please accept it. 
I am so deeply interested in all your noble institutions that I 
scarcely know how to divide it, but I think if you will give one 
pound to Mrs. Spurgeon for the Poor Ministers' Clothing Fund, 
one pound to the Colportage Fund, and the balance to the 
Orphanage, we cannot do better." 

A Methodist minister in Ireland writes : " Many a time these 
few years I have wondered whether you know that you are 
preaching in unnumbered pulpits every Lord's day, in many cases 
word for word as reported in your volumes. You are aware, I 
suppose, that the weekly sermon is read by two thirds of the 
Protestants in Ulster. In some cases ten families join in taking it, 
and lend it from one to another." 

The deacons of a church in South Australia, in sending a dona- 
tion for the Girls' Orphanage, say: "We have for years past re- 
ceived substantial help from your printed sermons. Christians 
have been helped on their way, and others have through their 
instrumentality been introduced into the light and liberty of the 
gospel." 

A sailor friend, who distributes Mr. Spurgeon's sermons and 
other works wherever his ship- goes, writes from Jamaica: "We 
have given away nearly all the books and sermons that we had. 
We are saving a few for the poor negroes at the other ports to 
which we are going. They were so thankful for them at the 
Falkland Islands, and enjoyed reading them so much. In one 
house I went in, I saw * Morning by Morning ' and * Evening by 
Evening ' ; they looked quite homely to me, as we use them every 
morning and evening on board ship." 



LETTERS. 361 

Another writes : " Though it may be known to you already, I 
venture to mention one incident which was brought to my notice. 
The Httle island of Bryher (one of the Scilly Isles), though it only 
has one hundred and twenty inhabitants, contains a church and a 
chapel. Service is held at the church occasionally, and then the 
chapel is closed. On other Sundays the service is held at the chapel, 
and the sexton, who is also clerk at the church, reads one of your 
sermons, and they sing Wesley's hymns." 

We subjoin the following letter, written to Mr. Spurgeon in his 
editorial capacity, as another illustration of the marvellous influ- 
ence he is wielding over all classes of men. He is always happy 
in preaching to sailors, and his prayers often ascend on behalf of 
the sons of the sea : — 

Dear Mr. Editor, — You have often been called a many- 
sided man : I shall therefore address your editorial personality, 
and consider for the moment that you are not the preacher I heard 
on Thursday evening last. I venture to think the Metropolitan 
Tabernacle had more sailors and sailor workers to this service 
than ever before. The good manager of the Sailors' Home sent 
up two wagon-loads, while Miss Macpherson's lady friends marched 
at the head of a splendid column of hardy, w-ell-dressed sailors. 
Very few ports of the world were unrepresented, while captains, 
officers, and missionaries helped to fill the first gallery. Much 
prayer had been offered and enthusiasm awakened by Mr. Spur- 
geon having promised to preach a sailors' sermon. At seven he 
came down to his quarter-deck looking careworn and overworked, 
as though he had been watching a week in the Channel. But as 
he looked at his crew on the starboard and port sides inspiration 
came, and the buoyancy of his spirit returned. 

The intercessory prayer for those at sea and those on shore 
waiting for missing ships, led many hearts to the throne of grace. 
As to the sermon, having graduated in God's university, the sea, 
with wind and wave, rock and sand, sun and star for my profes- 
sors, I would, as a qualified judge, pronounce it A i at Lloyds'. 
It was simply first-rate, and worthy of the great preacher and his 
glorious theme, '' The sea is His, and He made it." I want, believ- 
ing that it is calculated to bless the sailor and his cause and to 



362 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

glorify the God of the sea, to send it out as a tidal wave of blessing 
to the ends of the earth. Give me fifty thousand, and I can supply 
every lighthouse and lightship on our coast, every lifeboat and 
coastguard station, every British consulate and sailors' mission in 
the world, and the great British mercantile marine. Give me a 
hundred thousand, and her Majesty's ships and the American 
navy shall be supplied as well. But fifty thousand copies I must 
have, and I solemnly ask : Who is going to do this for Jesus, the 
Lord High Admiral of the seas? Some $I,000 would cover the 
entire cost, and I would undertake with our staff of the British and 
Foreign Sailors' Society, and associate societies, a proper dis- 
tribution. Your readers are not aware that in January of this 
year the effective tonnage of the mercantile navies of the British 
Empire was 16,000,000, while the rest of the world only had some 
11,500,000. This means that under one flag, and that flag the 
British, there is now fifty-eight per cent of the shipping of the 
whole world. Storms that hurled the Tay Bridge into the sea 
have played havoc with our shipping, both sail and steam. In the 
past year (1879), not counting the exceptionally disastrous months 
of this year, no less than 1,688 vessels were reported to have 
been wrecked, with an estimated value, including cargoes, of 
$127,500,000! 

But what became of those on board? About five thousand 
perished ! People have no conception of our ocean empire. 
Why, there are fifty thousand .fishing-boats around the coasts of 
Britain alone ! 

Is it, then, too much to ask for a hundred thousand copies of 
this special sermon? The sailors are absent, they cannot plead for 
themselves. This is why they are too often forgotten. It will 
cheer Mr. Spurgeon if we could thus serve the sailor. Who dare 
estimate the outcome of this effort for the extension of the Re- 
deemer's kingdom? Who will thus help to make the sailors the 
unpaid evangelists of Christ to all the nations? All hands lay 
hold of this rope and give us a pull; but you, Mr. Editor, must 
give the command, or few will obey. Yours faithfully, 

Edward W. Matthews, 

Secretary, British and Foreign Sailors' Society, Shadwell, London. 



XXVI. 
PERSONAL NOTES. 



Sometimes our experience is for the good of others, and sometimes it is for 
our own good. You cannot see the beauty of certain gems unless you place 
them on black velvet. When you have something black behind, then you see 
their lustre. So there are promises of God in which you never will discover 
their very brightest meaning except they are set against some dark soul-trouble. 
Much of faith's education may be called black-letter learning. Very black the 
letters are, too, and very ugly looking, but they must be spelt over. You cannot 
see the stars in the daytime; you must wait till the sun has gone down. — C. H. 
Spurgeon. 



PERSONAL NOTES, 



THE monthly " Notes " from Mr. Spurgeon's pen are not the 
least interesting feature of *' The Sword and the Trowel." 
These brief *' Notes " speak volumes. They reveal the pastor's 
heart and the preacher's faith. They declare how fully identified 
is the worknian with his work, how ceaselessly he watches over 
every department of labor originated by him. Mr. Spurgeon's 
friends read the " Notes " with prayerful, grateful hearts ; his 
more distant acquaintances with ever-growing admiration for the 
man ; strangers with awakened interest and amazement. The 
" Notes " possess a peculiar freshness when first published ; but as 
items of work done, of labors directed, and of energies expended, 
they are worthy of a more permanent place than the pages of a 
monthly journal. 

The death of President Garfield creates among Christian 
people a feeling far deeper than that which arises from the 
decease of an ordinary ruler. He was a member of a section of 
the Baptist church, and the representative of that party in the 
United States which is the friend of the freedman. His fall is a 
serious blow to those in the States whose principles are on the 
side of righteousness. We believe that it will be overruled for the 
highest ends, but as it stands his murder is a great calamity. May 
his widow find a measure of consolation in the sympathy of all 
civilized nations, and comfort without measure in the tender mercy 
of her husband's God ! England and America have been drawn 
together as by a common grief; may a feeling of concord thus 
sown in tears be reaped in joy ! Some hundreds of Americans 



366 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

are to be found at the Tabernacle all through the summer, and 
thus the pastor is drawn into close fellowship with believers on 
the other side of the ocean. 

We have lately felt more than ever the burden of souls, and a 
strong desire for a special visitation of grace to our churches. 
Our heart wanted vent. Hence we begged those of our friends 
who could spare the time to come together an hour before the 
week-night services to pray for a blessing. Before the lecture on 
Thursday we have had some of the most real and intense prayer 
that we have ever known. Perhaps some brother minister may 
take the hint, and see whether his people would not assemble with 
much enthusiasm to pray for a blessing upon their pastor and the 
service about to be held. Where regular prayer-meeting? flag, 
it is well to hold others at different hours. Better get the people 
together at dead of night, than let them fall into a dead condition. 

In answer to many inquiries, we are glad to speak of improved 
health. No summer holiday will be taken, for the many Sundays 
spent in the sick-room forbid any further absence from home. 
Neither can we travel far afield, for home work is so pressing. 
What with managing everything, preparing the weekly sermon, 
editing the magazine, and writing books, we are not doing badly 
when we fill up our weeks as we do. Here is a specimen week in 
which w^e did no more than ordinarily, but a little more than usual 
was visible to the common observer. Five serm.ons, three prayer- 
meetings, chair at two public meetings, speech at a third, one 
communion, one College afternoon of two hours' lecturing. Some 
of these occupied far more time in preparation than in the actual 
doing of them. We are thankful to be able to work. Oh, that 
we could accomplish far more ! We need the prayers of all loving 
friends that God would give us more of His divine blessing. What 
is all that we can do without. His Spirit? 

We rejoice to hear that our sermon on " The Divine Call for 
Missionaries" (No. 1351) has been the means of leading another 
young man, besides the one mentioned in our '' Notes " for June, 
to consecrate himself to the work of foreign missions. Mr. Broom-, 
hall, of the China Inland Mission, sends us the following extract 
from the papers of an accepted candidate : *' What is your motive 




Present Home of Pastor C. H. Spurgeon. 



PERSONAL NOTES. 367 

for wishing to become a missionary? " '* The glory of God in 
the salvation of the heathen." " What has led you to think of 
doing so?" "A sermon by Mr. Spurgeon on 'The Divine Call 
for Missionaries.' " 

One of the bandsmen of the Seventy-third Regiment writes from 
India to say that he receives our sermon every week by post, and 
that on a Sunday evening the soldiers will read '* Spurgeon's Ser- 
mons " when they will read nothing else of a religious character. 
He states that after a sermon has gone the round of fifty or sixty 
men it is returned to him all black and fringed through the wear 
and tear. 

Dr. Carson, of Coleraine, says concerning the sermons : *' In 
my professional calling I have had abundant opportunity of know- 
ing the good they do. Space would not allow me to dwell on 
this point, but I mention the instance of one of my own servants 
several years since. When he was waiting for me every day at 
the hospital gate I observed that he sat down on the step of the 
carriage and began to read. I asked him what he was reading, 
and he said it was a tract his mistress gave him, and that it was 
the nicest thing he ever read, as he could understand every word 
of it, and he wished that every minister would preach like that. I 
looked at it and found it was one of Spurgeon's sermons. '•' 

Mr. Wilhelm Haupt, missionary to the Edinburgh Ladies' Aux- 
iliary to the German Baptist Mission, in his last quarterly report, 
writes as follows : " My own son Willy, now seventeen years of 
age, came from Barmen, where he is at school, to spend his Easter 
holidays Vv'ith us. Shortly before, I had received some of Mr. Spur- 
geon's sermons from Dr. B., amongst which was one entitled 'The 
Seven Sneezes' (No. 1461), from the text, 2 Kings iv. 35, 'And 
the child sneezed seven times.' Having read this sermon, and 
believing that it was well suited to his case, I asked my boy to 
translate it into German for me. During the work of translation 
I could plainly see that what I had hoped was taking place, — the 
Lord was touching his heart and showing him his position. When 
he had finished the translation I asked him whether he too felt any 
signs of life, and he acknowledged he desired from his whole heart 
to become a Christian. He has not yet full assurance of faith, but 



368 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the Lord has begun His work of grace, and I have every reason 
to beheve He will complete it. I am very grateful for the gift 
of these splendid sermons, from which I have derived much 
blessing." 

A Scotch friend, in sending us a contribution for one of our 
works, explains that it is a thank-offering for the enjoyment and 
profit derived by him and his late wife from reading our sermons. 
He tells us that he is so deaf that he cannot hear his own minis- 
ter's voice in the service of the sanctuary, and his wife was too ill 
to go to church for two years before she died, so thef were both 
very grateful to get every Saturday the sermon which supphed 
them with spiritual food for the Lord's day. The writer further 
says : " Since my wife's death I have, after reading yoyr sermon, 
given it to a friend, whose wife is also in very weak health, and 
has not been able to go to church for nearly two years. They 
enjoy the sermon very much, and after reading it pass it on to a 
neighbor, who also enjoys it. I think you might take occasion to- 
drop the hint that each reader might seek out some invalid person 
who is not able to go to church and make a present of the sermon, 
instead of allowing it to lie idle on the shelf. The sick friend 
above mentioned was visited by the late Rev. James Robertson a 
few days before his decease. She told him that her own minister 
called to see her so seldom that she might now say that she had 
no church connection ; but she greatly enjoyed the reading of 
Mr. Spurgeon's sermons. *0h, then,' rephed Mr. Robertson, 'you 
will just consider you are one of Mr. Spurgeon's people.' " 

One of our church-members, in thanking us for our recent ser- 
mon on Psalm Ivii. 4, "My soul is among lions," writes: "You 

may be sure when I had the beer-house in that my soul was 

among lions. You may not remember that your preaching was 
the means of my closing that house on the Sunday in spite of 
great opposition, persecution, and personal loss. I kept it closed 
on the Sunday with one exception, when the devil tempted me to 
open it, but Christ gained the victory, and enabled me to close 
ever afterwards on the Sunday. I closed on the same Sunday as 
you opened the Tabernacle. If every minister could be the means 
of closing one pubhc-house on the Sunday the victory would be 



PERSONAL NOTES. 369 

won. The sermon on Zecharlah xlv. 20 (* A Peal of Bells,' No. 
399) decided me to join the church." 

A brother Baptist minister, in sending us a contribution for the 
Girls' Orphanage, says : " During nearly twenty years' ministry I 
have been often helped and encouraged by your sermons, which 
I regularly read and lend to others. May the Lord long spare you 
to His Church ! " 

We were amused when we were informed of a notice that re- 
cently appeared in a shop window in Newcastle. Underneath a 
lithographic likeness, or what professed to be such, was the an- 
nouncement, " Spurgeon reduced to Sixpence ! " The kind friend 
who sent us the intelligence expressed the hope that we were not 
quite so poor as the notice implied. 

In the first spare corner of the magazine let it stand recorded 
as my experience that the Lord is exceeding tender in His deal- 
ings with His afflicted. During the last six months He has tried 
me with sharp pains, but during that period He has kindly re- 
moved all cause for serious care as to the financial needs of my 
many institutions. Everything has been healthily sustained, and 
there have been no pitiful appeals by striking advertisement or 
otherwise. I intend no censure of the plans of others, but I 
cannot help admiring the considerate providence of our gracious 
Lord that He has kept off the trial of straitened supplies from 
His suffering servant. '' He stayeth His rough wind in 'the day 
of the east wind." 

Friends have come forth from the most unexpected quarters 
in the time of need, — nay before the need had actually come. 
Every fund, except that which supplies the College, is in better 
condition than before my illness, and even that is hardly an ex- 
ception, for the outgoing in that direction will no doubt be 
made good at the annual supper. Prayerful trust is a way 
which the Lord will assuredly honor. I do but feebly trust and 
pray, but God most richly answers ; and when in hours of crush- 
ing agony both supplication and confidence seem to need an 
effort beyond the strength of the tortured mind, the Lord deals 
with me after His own gracious fashion, '* exceeding abundantly 
above all that we ask, or even think." 

24 



370 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

On Monday, September 29, we expect to say good-bye to our 
son Thomas and the two ministers who are going with him to 
Austraha, Mr. R. McCulloch, from the College, and Mr. J. S. 
Harrison, who left the College a few months ago and settled at 
Blackburn. Mr. Gibson, a generous Christian gentleman of Tas- 
mania, pays the passage of these two brethren, that they may 
labor in that island. It is a severe trial thus to be separated 
from a loving and beloved son, but the will of the Lord be done. 
We commend our son again to the loving care of those Aus- 
tralian friends who so generously received him on his first visit. 
He will need rest, but after a while we trust he will resume his 
preaching, go through the Australian colonies, visit New Zealand, 
and then settle down somewhere in the southern world.* Such 
is the programme which our imagination has mapped out; but 
how little we know of the future ! His parents surrender him to 
the Lord's work abroad, hoping one day again to see him in the 
flesh, and firmly believing that he will do good service for the 
Lord in the colonies. Beloved by the church at the Tabernacle 
and by all at home, we fondly hoped that our son would have 
had a useful career in England ; but Infinite Wisdom cannot err. 

Mr. Broomhall, who is conducting the home affairs of Mr. 
Hudson Taylor's mission, brought us the other day a copy of 
our sermon on "The Divine Call for Missionaries," No. 1351. 
It was scored and underlined, and had been carried about in his 
pocket by a brother who is now a missionary; the sermon hav- 
ing constrained him to devote him.self to that work for the Lord. 
We prized the discourse more than if the princes of the land 
had covered it with jewels. To God be all the glory ! 

A nobleman of Alsace visited us at Mentone, and gave us 
copies of two of our sermons, which he has translated into French, 
and lithographed in running hand, to be read in congregations. 
We found our friend almost as well acquainted with our work 
as if he had attended the Tabernacle all his life. He came a 
long way for a short interview, bringing his wife and his son, 
and by this visit he greatly refreshed our spirit. 

A minister, living at Wisbech, authenticates the following sin- 
gular case of conversion through our sermon on " The Portion 



PERSONAL NOTES. 37 1 

of the Ungodly," No. 444. The writer says in a recent letter to 
us : " Seventeen years ago it pleased the Lord to permit me to 
dream that the end of the world was come, and in my dream I 
saw the saints rising with the Lord Jesus to glory. I was left, 
and near me, upon a large quantity of stubble, stood an acquaint^ 
ance, who addressed me thus: 'They used to say in the other 
world that we should be in fire, but it is not so.' In a moment 
flames burst out, and in my fright I awoke. A few days after 
my dream my friend and I heard you preach at the Tabernacle. 
Judge how great was our surprise when you announced for your 
text, Isaiah xlvii. 14, 'Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire 
shall barn them ; they shall not deliver themselves from the power 
of the flame: there shall not be -a coal to warm at, nor fire to 
sit before it.' " In August, 1876, a severe afifliction, the dream, and 
our sermon resulted in our friend's conversion. 

One of our students writes to tell us about the conversion 
of one whom he has recently baptized, who thus refers to the 
channel through which the blessing reached her : *' Before I was 
brought to Christ I had a desire to hear Mr. Spurgeon ; accord- 
ingly, I went to Exeter Hall, and afterwards to the Tabernacle, 
but still rem.ained in my state of unregeneracy. One day I was 
entering the drawing-room, and, looking upon the table, my eye 
fell at once upon a printed sermon. Taking it into my hand, I 
read the text, Psalm li. 4. I read a little of the sermon, was in- 
terested, and read on until I was not only interested in it, but 
in Christ: this was the means of my conversion." It was our 
sermon. No. 86, on ''Unimpeachable Justice." 

A Christian sea-captain writes to tell us about the joyful recep- 
tion of our sermons at St. Kitts, one of the West Indian islands. 
He says, " All my sermons that I had in the monthly parts I 
separated, for the people were so eager for them they came from 
every quarter to ask for them. We gave some to the master of 
a little vessel that trades to different islands, and we saw several 
of the laboring men gather round him as he read the sermons to 
them. The natives seemed to drink their contents down with as 
much pleasure as a thirsty ox does water on a summer's day." 
The mate of our friend's vessel went down among the very poor 



372 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

who do not go anywhere, and had two meetings among them, 
which the people very much enjoyed. They wanted another 
visit, but before the next Sabbath the vessel had sailed. 

In ''The Preachers' Annual" of 1877, page 544, in an article by 
the Rev. G. T. Dowling on " Candidating," we chanced to read as 
follows : " Charles Spurgeon was not even seriously thought of 
as a prospective pastor the first time he preached in London. 
Months passed by before he was again invited to spend a Sabbath, 
and when even a call was extended it was by no means unani- 
mous. Some families even left the church because ' that boy ' was 
called." 

This is given as a proof that successful preachers frequently 
produce a poor impression as candidates. This may be a general 
fact, but it was a pity to fabricate an instance. The truth is exactly 
the contrary. The moment after our first sermon was preached 
we were invited by the principal deacon to supply for six months, 
for he felt sure that at a church meeting, which would at once be 
held, such a resolution would be passed. We declined his offer, for 
we thought it too hasty, but promised to preach alternate Sabbaths 
during the next month ; and this was done, and followed up imme- 
diately by a further invitation. No one person left the church to 
our knowledge, and the resolution inviting us was as nearly unani- 
mous as possible, one man and four women voting to the contrary, 
all of these becoming in after time most friendly to us. We only 
mention the incident as a specimen of the manner in which advo- 
cates of a theory too often manufacture their instances, and as a 
warning to our friends to be slow in believing anything which they 
may hear or read about public persons. 

Dr. Blaikie, in a recent letter to us, says of Dr. Livingstone : " I 
had in my hands the other day one of your sermons, very yellow : 
it lay embedded in one of his journals — had probably been all 
over Africa — and had in Livingstone's neat hand the simple words, 
' Ve^y good.' Would you like it?" Our reply, as the reader will 
guess, was an urgent request that we might have the yellow relic. 

The Religious Tract Society kindly favors us with the following 
extract from a letter from a member of the Servian Government, 
in reference to our sermon, " Come and Welcome," which has 



PERSONAL NOTES. 373 

been published in Servia: " Mr. Spurgeon's sermon, ' Come and 
Welcome,' continues to be much read and appreciated. The Dean 
of Thabatz writes to thank me that I have procured for Servian 
Christians such most valuable reading; and also adds that he has 
never read anything more edifying and more ' filling the soul.' A 
copy found its way to the State Prison of Posharevatz, and I am 
informed has been there read with much enjoyment, even by some 
men who have been pronounced infidels. An old gentleman be- 
longing to the highest rank of our society took the opportunity 
of an evening party in his house to read the whole sermon to the 
ladies and gentlemen present. I am mentioning to you all these 
details, believing them to be hopeful signs of coming harvest, and 
feeling myself happy and thankful to our merciful Father that 
the first seed, which by the instrumentality of your committee has 
been thrown in the earth of Servia, seems to bear with it God's 
blessing." 

Mr. Spurgeon preached at Portsmouth, October 26. He writes : 
One of the papers seems to wonder that Mr. Spurgeon was ner- 
vous ! Who could avoid it amid that dense throng, in a frail build- 
ing, with constant interruptions? The horror of great darkness 
which passed over the preacher's soul, few can understand but 
those who have once seen a multitude flying in panic, and people 
trodden to death in the crush. We should be able to preach 
abroad far oftener if we could secure moderate audiences, in 
places full to safety, but not crowded to murder-point. However, 
the occasion ended well ; and to God be praise ! The efforts of 
all friends at Portsmouth to entertain the Baptist Union were most 
praiseworthy. 

For an opportunity of preaching, Southampton, on October 27, 
bears the palm ; for there we had order and quiet throughout, and 
we trust the Divine Presence was there. It was a singular sight to 
see at these services men of all grades and creeds, and even more 
remarkable to observe with what kindliness they received the 
preacher of the Word. Surely there is some softening process 
at work, some coming together of divergent creeds, some candor 
towards long-despised truth. In the house of Canon Wilberforce, 
in concert with Lord Radstock and other friends, we had much 



374 • LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

friendly discussion, but far more spiritual communion both in 
conversation and prayer. The life of God in the souls of believers 
triumphs over even important differences of ceremonial and doc- 
trine. In honestly dealing with each other in the spirit of love 
to Christ we shall, by the Holy Ghost's guidance, find the way 
to mutual edification and enlightenment, and so to real unity. 
If congresses, and conferences, and meetings, by bringing Chris- 
tians together, shall continue to increase their knowledge of each 
other, and their common regard for one another, they will do 
more towards the unity of Christendom than all the plans and 
societies which have this for their design, but know not how to 
compass it. 

Altogether, Southampton friends deserve the highest commen- 
dation. We were delighted to find three of our College men at 
Southampton and two at Portsmouth, all favored with the divine 
blessing, and heartily working together to give entertainment to 
the denomination which met in such force in the two towns. 
Others of our own men were to the front, holding their own among 
the best of their brethren. We are greatly rejoiced when we see 
a man raised up in the ranks of the Church to serve the Lord 
vaHantly, and there is just a drop of special zest to our joy when 
it happens to be one of the sons of the Pastors' College. 

On Friday evening, October 21, the eleventh annual meeting of 
the Green Walk Mission, conducted by Mr. William Olney, Jr., was 
held in the Tabernacle Lecture Hall, when there was a large at- 
tendance of the workers and friends of the mission. Pastor C. H. 
Spurgeon presided. Mr. Bennett read the report, which com- 
menced with a grateful reference to the spirit of prayer which had 
prevailed among the workers, and a recognition of the Lord's 
loving care of them at the time when the tempest blew down the 
tent in August last. It then proceeded to specify the various 
special and ordinary means which had been used for the pur- 
pose of bringing the people of Bermondsey to the feet of Jesus. 
These include Sunday and Thursday-evening services ; five prayer- 
meetings during the week ; magic-lantern lectures illustrating the 
Scriptures; five open-air services weekly ; a tract society, for 
the distribution of the pastor's sermons by twenty-one friends, who 



PERSONAL NOTES. 375 

go from house to house on Sunday afternoons; a Sunday-school, 
with an average attendance in the afternoon of 386 scholars and 
tvventy-five teachers, more of whom, especially for the girls' classes, 
are greatly needed; an infant class of about 150 children; a 
mothers' meeting, on Wednesday afternoons; a Dorcas society; 
song-services ; missionary meetings, and other agencies which could 
not be mentioned in the " short report." The spiritual results 
seen since the last annual meeting have been most cheering, over 
fifty persons having testified to Mr. Olney that they have been led 
to the Saviour, and many of them having united with the churches 
at the Tabernacle, Greenwich, Pentonville, and Rye Lane. 

It was a good meeting, and greatly cheered the pastor's heart as 
he saw with what vis^or the various branches of Tabernacle work 
are being carried on. Here was a work large enough for a sepa- 
rate church, and yet only one of many boughs of the old tree. 

Orphanage. Christmas Festivities. — The best thanks of the 
orphans and of the president of the Orphanage are due, and are 
hereby heartily tendered, to all those who by their generous help 
made Christmas at the Orphanage to be a .time of great enjoyment. 

Our son Charles, who took our place on Christmas day, sent us 
the following lively account of the day's proceedings : — 

Dear Father, — 

'• Christmas day has vanished fleeting, 
Gone its merry hours of meeting ; 
Hearty fun and hearty eating, 
Gone like Christmas days of yore," — 

SO I write to tell you how happy all were at the Stockwell 
Orphanage. To commence with, the morning service at New- 
man Hall's was very good. The fog was dense, so a large congre- 
gation could not be expected, but all were gratified to see so 
many there. The collection will realize £^0 (two hundred and 
fifty dollars). A fine Christmas-box indeed ! The walk, no doubt, 
gave the lads a keen appetite for the beef. Before they set to I 
read your kind letter, amid perfect silence (for a pin might have 
dropped, as Tom used to say) until I had finished the first sen- 
tence, *' I wish you all a merry Christmas." Then they burst out, 
*' The same to you, sir," and Mr. Charlesworth observed that it 



376 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

was no fault of yours if you did not hear it. There was not one 
heart that did not fervently desire joy for you while absent from 
the Orphanage. The boys did the cheering well for everybody 
named in the note, but none exceeded the hurrahs, given for the 
eleven little girls when, with Miss Moore leading the foremost, 
they walked down the hall to dinner. Dear little mites, they stood 
on the form for the boys to look at them, and then listened to 
your loving words. As per usual, ample justice was done to the 
dinner. Then the grandees had their dinner. A vacant chair 
again occupied the centre position at the table; I could not fill 
it, and regretted that my dear father was not there to do so, 
although I am truly glad you are away from these awful fogs. 
None forgot the president when they spoke, but all mourned his 
absence. It fell to my lot to receive a present from the " old 
boys," consisting of a case of cutlery, — a very handsome gift 
indeed, and one that will be useful, too, by and by. In the 
evening we heartily enjoyed ourselves. May the time come round 
when you will be there to rejoice with those who do rejoice ! 

The following is the letter which we sent to the Orphanage : — 

Mentone, December 20. 

Dear Boys, — I wish you all a merry Christmas. My son, 
Mr. Charles Spurgeon, will tell you that it is a great trouble to 
me to be away from you all at Christmas, but I hope you will all 
enjoy yourselves none the less, and be as happy as kittens. I am 
very pleased to hear that as a rule you are a good lot of fellows, 
obedient, teachable, and true ; therefore you have a right to be 
happy, and I hope you are. I always wish everything to be done 
to make you love the Orphanage and feel it to be your home, and 
in this all the trustees join, and so does Mr. Charlesworth. We 
want you to be very jolly while you are with us, and then to grow 
up and go out into business, and to turn out first-rate men and 
true Christians. 

Boys, give three cheers for the trustees, who are your best 
friends, and then the same for Mr. Charlesworth, the matrons, and 
the masters. Don't forget the gentlemen who send the shillings 
and the figs. Hip, hip, hurrah ! 

Where are the girls? 



PERSONAL NOTES. 377 

Dear Children, — I hope you will be happy too, with Miss 

Moore and the other kind folks. You cannot make quite so much 

noise as those uproarious boys, but your voices are very sweet, 

and I shall be glad one day to hear them when I get well and 

come home. Enjoy yourselves all you can, and try to make 

everybody happy in your new home. I hope my first little girls 

will be specially good ones. Ought not the first to be the best? 

Your friend always, 

C. H, Spurgeon. 

Any old boys about? God bless the young men, and make 
them our strength and honor. 

Among the many expressions of brotherly kindness and sym- 
pathy which have reached us during our sojourn abroad, one calls 
for special mention. Just as we were retiring to rest one night, a 
soft pillow for our head and heart arrived by telegraph from the 
other side of the Atlantic. This was the form in which the sweet 
love-token came to hand: "To C. H. Spurgeon, Mentone, France. 
From New York Baptist Ministers' Conference : Prayers. Sym- 
pathy. 2 Corinthians i. 2, 7. Potter, Secretary." The full text 
of the message is as follows : '' Grace be to you and peace from 
God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. . . . And our 
hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the 
sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation." 

May the ever-blessed Giver of peace and Lover of concord 
return to these brethren ten thousand-fold this their deed of love 
towards their afflicted fellow-servant. Such costly acts of sponta- 
neous sympathy go far to prove that, degenerate as the age may 
be, there is life and love in the old Church yet. 

This telegram was followed on January 15 by the following 
most touching letter, for which we feel the utmost gratitude : — 

Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon: 

Beloved Brother, — The sorrowful tidings reach us that you 
are entirely prostrated, not being able even to address your weekly 
epistle of love to your own church. Your sufferings touch the 
hearts of your American brethren most tenderly, and the New 



378 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

York Conference of Baptist ministers, numbering more than one 
hundred, has appointed the undersigned a committee to express 
their deep sympathy with you in your present trial. 

Be assured, precious brother, that this expression is most heart- 
felt and real : you live in our hearts so truly that your affliction is 
ours, on the divine principle that if one member suffers all the 
members suffer therewith. In health, you have sent thrilling 
words of cheer to the afflicted disciples of the Lamb all round 
the globe. And now, in the hour of your darkness, their affec- 
tions cling closer to you than ever. Your pain meets with little 
mitigation through the livelong day and night while the sun 
makes his rounds over all lands, and we believe that in most of 
the nations that see his light the prayers of your brethren are 
rising to the God of all consolation as from a common altar, that 
divine succor may be vouchsafed to you every hour. 

Truly, Infinite Grace has chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 
How far your terrible pains in the past have contributed as a 
holy discipline to the creation of that noble Christian manhood 
which has marked your life and labors so long, can be known only 
to our Heavenly Father. But we believe that as our Captain was 
made perfect through sufferings, He will so sanctify your^, that 
even a more mellow and gentle ministry will mark your coming 
years than those which are past. Should our hopes be thus grat- 
ified, the sorrowing people of God will draw strength once more 
from your weakness, and sweetness out of your bitter cup. 

Dearly beloved one, we commend to you now those broad and 
bright promises of our Lord which you have so forcibly applied 
to the souls of His people in their distresses. Let your Christian 
fortitude bind you indissolubly to the fidelity of your covenant- 
keeping Saviour, till a holy courage can humbly say, " Though 
Thou slay me, yet will I trust Thee." We shall not cease to pray 
that our sympathetic Redeemer will be at your right hand, that He 
will fill your room with heavenly light, and your heart with sacred 
joy. " Be of good cheer," lift up thine eyes, and see thy Lord 
coming to thy help on the wave, and in the darkest watch of the 
night. Can he not say to the crazy, creaking vessel, that years are 
added to its days? This He has said in similar stress heretofore. 



PERSONAL NOTES. 379 

And we confidently hope that your vahiable hfe will be still spared 
to do a glorious work for that General Church of Christ which 
claims you as its pastor, in common with the brethren at the Tab- 
ernacle. The Conference tenders its Christian condolence to your 
beloved household, in these days when with them hope and fear 
are struggling so hard for the mastery. May Jehovah keep and 

bless you all. 

Yours affectionately, 

Thos. Armitage, ^ 

Christopher Rhodes, > Committee. 
Jesse B. Thomas, J 



380 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PSALM CXII. 

Blessed is the man that feareth 

And delighteth in the Lord ! 
Wealth, the wealth which truly cheereth, 

God shall give him for reward ; 
And his children 
Shall be blest around his board. 

He shall not be moved for ever, 
Though with evil tidings tried; 

Nought from God his faith shall sever, 
Fixed his heart shall still abide; 
For believers 

Are secured on every side. 

To the upright light arises, 

Darkness soon gives place to day; 

While the man who truth despises, 
And refuses to obey, 
In a moment, 

Cursed of God, shall melt away. 

Therefore let us praise Jehovah, 
Sound His glorious name on high, 

Sing His praises, and moreover 
By our actions magnify 
Our Redeemer, 

Who by blood has brought us nigh. 



C. H. Spurgeon. 



XXVII. 

"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND 
"PICTURES." • 



In "John Ploughman's Talk " I have tried to talk for ploughmen and com- 
mon people. Hence refined taste and dainty words have been discarded for 
strong old proverbial expressions and homely phrases. I have aimed my blows 
at the vices of the many, and tried to inculcate those moral virtues without 
which men are degraded and miserable. Much that needs be said to the 
toihng masses would not suit well the pulpit and the Sabbath; these lowly 
pages may teach thrift and industry all the days of the week in the cottage and 
the workshop; and if some learn these lessons I shall not repent the adoption 
of the rustic style. 

Ploughman is a name I may justly claim. Every minister has put his hand 
to the plough : it is his business to break up the fallow ground and cast in good 
seed. That I have written in a semi-humorous vein shall need no apology, if 
tliereby sound moral teaching wins a hearing from the million. There is no 
particular virtue in being seriously unreadable. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND 
"PICTURES." 



IF THE CAP FITS, WEAR IT. 

FRIENDLY READERS, — Last time I made a book I trod 
on some people's corns and bunions, and they wrote me 
angry letters, asking, " Did you mean me? " This time, to save 
them the expense of a halfpenny card, I will begin my book by 

saying, — 

Whether I please or whether I tease, 

I '11 give you my honest mind ; 
If the cap should fit, pray wear it a bit ; 

If not, you can leave it behind. 

No offence is meant; but if anything in these pages should 
come home to a man, let him not send it next door, but get a 
coop for his own chickens. What is the use of reading or hearing 
for other people? We do not eat and drink for them : why should 
we lend them our ears and not our mouths? Please then, good 
friend, if you find a hoe on these premises, weed your own garden 
with it. 

I was speaking with Will Shepherd the other day about our 
master's old donkey, and I said: " He is so old and stubborn, he 
really is not worth his keep." '' No," said Will, '* and worse still, 
he is so vicious, that I feel sure he '11 do somebody a mischief one 
of these days." You know they say that walls have ears ; we were 
talking rather loud, but we did not know that there were ears to 
haystacks. We stared, I tell you, when we saw Joe Scroggs come 
from behind the stack, looking as red as a turkey-cock and raving 
like mad. He burst out swearing at Will and me, like a cat spit- 
ting at a dog. His monkey was up and no mistake. He 'd let us 



384 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



know that he was as good a man as either of us, or the two put 
together, for the matter of that. Talk about Jdin in that way; 
he 'd do — I don't know what. I told old Joe we had never 
thought of him, nor said a word about him, and he might just as 
well save his breath to cool his porridge, for nobody meant him 
any harm. This only made him call me a liar and ifoar the louder. 
My friend Will was walking away holding his sides ; but when he 
saw that Scroggs was still in a fume he laughed outright, and 




turned round on him and said: "Why, Joe, we Avere talking about 
master's old donkey, and not about you ; but, upon my word, I 
shall never see that donkey again without thinking of Joe Scroggs." 
Joe puffed and blowed, but perhaps he thought it an awkward job, 
for he backed out of it, and Will and I went off to our work in 
rather a merry cue, for old Joe had blundered on the truth about 
himself for once in his life. 

The aforesaid Will Shepherd has sometimes come down rather 
heavy upon me in his remarks, but it has done me good. It is 
partly through his home-thrusts that I have come to write this new 
book, for he thought I was idle; perhaps I am, and perhaps I am 
not. Will forgets that I have other fish to fry and tails to butter; 
and he does not recollect that a ploughman's mind wants to He 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 385 

fallow a little, and can't give a crop every year. It is hard to 
make rope when your hemp is all used up, or pancakes without 
batter, or rook-pie without birds ; and so I found it hard to write 
more when I had said just about all I knew. Giving much to the 
poor doth increase a man's store, but it is not the same with 
writing; at least I am such a poor scribe that I don't find it come 
because I pull. If your thoughts only flow by drops, you can't 
pour them out in bucketfuls. 

However, Will has ferreted me out, and I am obliged to him so 
far. I told him the other day what the winkle said to the pin : 
*' Thank you for drawing me out, but you are rather sharp about 
it." Still, Master Will is not far from the mark ; after three hun- 
dred tliousand people had bought my book it certainly was time 
to write another: so, though I am not a hatter, I will again turn 
cap-maker, and those who have heads may try on my wares ; 
those who have none won't touch them. So, friends, I am, 

Yours, rough and ready, 

John Ploughman. 



HOPE. 



Eggs are eggs, but some are rotten ; and so hopes are hopes, 
but many of them are delusions. Hopes are like women, there is 
a touch of angel about them all, but there are two sorts. My boy 
Tom has been blowing a lot of birds' eggs, and threading them on 
a string; I have been doing the same thing with hopes, and here 's 
a few of them, good, bad, and indifferent. 

The sanguine man's hope pops up in a moment like Jack-in-the- 
box; it works with a spring, and does not go by reason. When- 
ever this man looks out of the window he sees better times coming, 
and although it is nearly all in his own eye and nowhere else, yet 
to see plum-puddings in the moon is a far more cheerful habit 
than croaking at everything like a two-legged frog. This is the 
kind of brother to be on the road with on a pitch-dark night, when 
it pours with rain, for he carries candles in his eyes and a fireside 
in his heart. Beware of being misled by him, and then you may 

25 



386 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

safely keep his company. His fault is that he counts his chickens 
before they are hatched, and sells his herrings before they are in 
the net. All his sparrows' eggs are bound to turn into thrushes 
at the least, if not partridges and pheasants. Summer has fully 
come, for he has seen one swallow. He is sure to make his fortune 
at his new shop, for he had not opened the door five minutes 
before two of the neighbors crowded in : one of them wanted a 
loaf of bread on trust, and the other asked change for a shilling. 
He is certain that the squire means to give him his custom, for he 
saw him reading the name over the shop-door as he rode past. 
He does not believe in slips between cups and lips, but makes 
certainties out of perhapses. Well, good soul, though he is a little 
soft at times, there is much in him to praise, and I like to think of 
one of his odd sayings: *' Never say die till you are dead, and then 
it 's no use, so let it alone." There are other odd people in the 
world, you see, besides John Ploughman. 

My neighbor Shiftless is waiting for his aunt to die; but the old 
lady has as many lives as nine cats, and my notion is that when 
she does die she will leave her little money to the Hospital for 
Diseased Cats or Stray Dogs, sooner than her nephew Jack shall 
have it. Poor creature, he is dreadfully down at the heel, and lays 
it all on the dear old lady's provoking constitution. However, he 
hopes on, and gets worse and worse, for while the grass grows the 
horse starves. He pulls at a long rope who waits for another's 
death; he who hunts after legacies had need have iron shoes. He 
that waits for dead men's shoes may long go barefoot; he who 
waits for his uncle's cow need not be in a hurry to spread the 
butter. He who lives on hope has a slim diet. If Jack Shiftless 
never had an aunt, he might have tucked up his shirt-sleeves and 
worked for himself; but they told him that he was born with a 
silver spoon in his mouth, and that made a spoon of him, so that 
he is no more use at work than a cow at catching hares. If any- 
body likes to leave John Ploughman a legacy, he will be very 
much obliged to them, but they had better not tell him of it for 
fear he should not plough so straight a furrow; they had better 
make it twice as much, and take him by surprise. On the whole, 
it would be better to leave it to the Pastors' College or the Stock- 



•'JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 387 

well Orphanage, for it will be well used in either case. I wish 
people would think less about windfalls, and plant more apple- 
trees. Hopes that grow out of graves are grave mistakes ; and 
whe-n they cripple a man's own energies, they are a sort of hang- 
man's rope, dangling round a man's neck. 

Some people were born on the first of April, and are always 
hoping without sense or reason. Their ship is to come home, they 
are to dig up a pot of gold, or to hear of something to their advan- 
tage. Poor sillies, they have wind on the brain, and dream while 
they are awake. They may hold their mouths open a long while 
before fried ham and eggs will come flying into them, and yet 
they really seem to believe that some stroke of luck, some windfall 
of golden apples, will one day set them up and make gentlemen 
of them. They hope to ride in their coaches, and by and by find 
themselves shut up in a place where the coaches won't run over 
them. You may whistle a long while before goldfinches will hop 
on to your thumb. Once in a while one man in a million may 
stumble against a fortune, but thousands ruin themselves by idle 
expectations. Expect to get half of what you earn, a quarter of 
what is your due, and none of what you have lent, and you will 
be near the mark; but to look for a fortune to fall from the moon 
is to play the fool with a vengeance. A man ought to hope within 
the bounds of reason and the promises of the good old Book. 
Hope leans on an anchor, but an anchor must have something to 
hold by and to hold to. A hope without grounds is a tub without 
a bottom, a horse without a head, a goose without a body, a shoe 
without a sole, a knife without a blade. Who but Simple Simon 
would begin to build a house at the top? there must be a founda- 
tion. Hope is no hope, but sheer folly when a man hopes for 
impossibilities, or looks for crops without sowing seed, and for 
happiness without doing good. Such hopes lead to great boast 
and small roast; they act like a jack-o'-lantern, and lead men into 
the ditch. There 's poor Will at the workhouse, who always de- 
clares that he owns a great estate, only the right owner keeps him 
out of it; his name is Jenyns, or Jennings, and somebody of that 
name he says has left enough money to buy the Bank of England, 
and one day he is to have a share of it; but meanwhile poor Will 



38S LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

finds the parish broth poor stuff for such a great gentleman's 
stomach ; he has promised me an odd thousand or two when he 
gets his fortune, and I am going to build a castle in the air with 
it, and ride to it on a broomstick. Poor soul, like a good many 
others he has windmills in his head, and may make his will on his 
thumb-nail for anything that he has to give. Depend upon it, 
ploughing the air is not half so profitable as it is easy: he who 
hopes in this world for more than he can get by his own earnings 
hopes to find apricots on a crab-tree. He who marries a slovenly, 
dressy girl, and hopes to make her a good wife, might as well buy 
a goose and expect it to turn out a milch cow. He who takes his 
boys to the beer-shop, and trusts that they will grow up sober, 
puts his coffee-pot on the fire and expects to see it look bright as 
new tin. Men cannot be in their senses when they brew with bad 
malt and look for good beer, or set a wicked example and reckon 
upon raising a respectable family. You may hope and hope till 
your heart grows sick; but when you send your boy up the chim- 
n,ey, he '11 come down black for all your hoping. Teach a child 
to lie, and then hope that he will grow up honest; better put a 
wasp in a tar-barrel and wait till he makes you honey. As to the 
next world, it is a great pity that men do not take a little more 
care when they talk of it. If a man dies drunk, somebody or 
other is sure to say, ** I hope he is gone to heaven." It is all very 
well to wish it, but to hope it is another thing. Men turn their 
faces to hell and hope to get to heaven: why don't they walk into 
the horse-pond, and hope to be dry? Hopes of heaven are solemn 
things, and should be tried by the Word of God. A man might 
as well hope, as our Lord says, to gather grapes of thorns or figs 
of thistles, as look for a happy hereafter at the end of a bad life. 
There is only one Rock to build good hopes on, and that is not 
Peter, as the Pope says, neither is it sacraments, as the old Roman 
beast's cubs tell us, but the merits of the Lord Jesus. There John 
Ploughman rests, and he is not afraid, for this is a firm footing, 
and gives him a hope sure and stedfast, which neither life nor 
death can shake; but I must not turn preacher; so please remem- 
ber that presumption is a ladder which will break the mounter's 
neck; and don't try it as you love your soul. 



'JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ** PICTURES." 



389 



A HANDSAW IS A GOOD THING, BUT NOT TO SHAVE WITH. 



Our friend will cut more than he will eat, and shave off some- 
thing more than hair, and then he will blame the saw. His brains 
don't lie in his beard, nor yet in the skull above it, or he would 
see that his saw will only make sores. There 's sense in choosing 
your tools, for a pig's tail will never make a good arrow, nor will 




his ear make a silk purse. You can't catch rabbits with drums, 
nor pigeons with plums. A good thing is not good out of its 
place. It is much the same with lads and girls; you can't put 
all boys to one trade, nor send all girls to the same service. One 
chap will make a London clerk, and another will do better to 
plough and sow, and reap and mow, and be a farmer's boy. It 's 
no use forcing them ; a snail will never run a race, nor a mouse 



drive a wagon. 



" Send a boy to the well against his will, 
The pitcher will break and the water spill. 



390 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

With unwilling hounds it is hard to hunt hares. To go against 
nature and inclination is to row against wind and tide. They say 
you may praise a fool till you make him useful : I don't know 
so much about that, but I do know that if I get a bad knife I 
generally cut my finger, and a blunt axe is more trouble than 
profit. No, let me shave with a razor if I shave at all, and do 
my work with the best tools I can get. 

Never set a man to work he is not fit for, for he will never do it 
well. They say that if pigs fly they always go with their tails for- 
ward, and awkward workmen are much the same. Nobody expects 
cows to catch crows, or hens to wear hats. There 's reason in 
roasting eggs, and there should be reason in choosing servants. 
Don't .put a round peg into a square hole, nor wind up your,watch 
with a corkscrew, nor set a tender-hearted man to whip wife-beat- 
ers, nor a bear to be a relieving-officer, nor a publican to judge of 
the licensing laws. Get the right man in the right place, and then 
all goes as smooth as skates on ice ; but the wrong man puts all 
awry, as the sow did when she folded the linen. 

It is a temptation to many to trust them with money: don't put 
them to take care of it if you ever wish to see it again. Never set 
a cat to w^atch cream, nor a pig to gather peaches, for if the cream 
and the peaches go a-missing you will have yourself to thank for 
it. It is a sin to put people where they are likely to sin. If you 
beheve the old saying, that when you set a beggar on horseback 
he will ride to the devil, don't let him have a horse of yours. 

If you want a thing well done, do it yourself, and pick your 
tools. It is true that a man must row with such oars as he has, 
but he should not use the boat-hook for a paddle. Take not the 
tongs to poke the fire, nor the poker to put on the coals. A news- 
paper on Sunday is as much put of place as a warming-pan on 
the first of August, or a fan on a snowy day: the Bible suits the 
Sabbath a deal better. 

He who tries to make money by betting uses a wrong tool, and 
is sure to cut his fingers. As well hope to grow golden pippins 
on the bottom of the sea as to make gain among gamblers if you 
are an honest man. Hard work and thrifty habits are the right 
razor, gambling is a handsaw. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND *' PICTURES." 39 1 

Some things want doing gently, and telling a man of his faults is 
one of them. You would not fetch a hatchet to break open an 
egg, nor kill a fly on your boy's forehead with a sledge-hammer, 
and so you must not try to mend your neighbor's little fault by 
blowing him up sky-high. Never fire off a musket to kill a 
midge, and don't raise a hue and cry about the half of nothing. 

Do not throw away a saw because it is not a razor, for it will 
serve your turn another day, and cut your ham-bone if it won't 
shave off your stubble. A whetstone, though it cannot cut, may 
sharpen a knife that will.' A match gives little light itself, but it 
may light a candle to brighten up the room. Use each thing and 
each man according to common-sense, and you will be uncom- 
monly sensible. You don't milk horses nor ride cows, and by the 
same rule you must make of every man what he is meant for, 
and the farm will be as right as a trivet. 

Everything has its use, but no one thing is good for all purposes. 
The baby said, " The cat crew, and the cock rocked the cradle; " 
but old folks knew better: the cat is best at mousing, and the cock 
at rousing. That 's for that, as salt is for herrings, and sugar for 
gooseberries, and Nan for Nicholas. Don't choose your tools by 
their looks, for that 's best which does best. A silver trowel lays 
very few bricks. You cannot curry a horse with a tortoiseshell 
comb, or fell oaks with a penknife, or o-pen oysters with a gold 
toothpick. Fi/ie is not so good as Jit when work is to be done. 
A good workman will get on pretty well with a poor tool, and a 
brave soldier never lacks a weapon ; still, the best is good enough 
for me, and John Ploughman does not care to use a clumsy tool 
because it looks pretty. Better ride on an ass that carries you 
than on a steed which throws you ; it is far better to work with an 
old-fashioned spade which suits your hand than with a new-fangled 
invention you don't understand. 

In trying to do good to your fellow-men the Gospel is out of 
sight the best instrument to work with. The new doctrine which 
they call " modern thought" is nothing better than a handsaw, and 
it won't work a bit. This fine new nothing of a gospel would not 
save a mouse, nor move the soul of a tomtit; but the glorious 
Gospel of Jesus Christ is suited to man's need, and by God's grace 



392 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

does its work famously. Let every preacher and teacher keep to it, 
for they will never find a better. Try to win men with its loving 
words and precious promises, and there 's no fear of labor in vain. 
Some praise the balm of Gilead, or man's morality; many try the 
Roman salve, or the oil of Babylon ; and others use a cunning 
ointment mixed by learned philosophers ; but for his own soul's 
wounds, and for the hurts of others, John Ploughman knows but 
one cure, and that is given gratis by the Good Physician to all who 
ask for it. A humble faith in Christ Jesus will soon bring you 
this sovereign remedy. Use no other for no other is of use. 



ON PATIENCE. 

Patience is better than wisdom : an ounce of patience is worth 
a pound of brains. All men praise patience, but few enough can 
practise it; it is a medicine which is good for all diseases, and 
therefore every old woman recommends it; but it is not every 
garden that grows the herbs to make it with. When one's flesh 
and bones are full of aches and pains, it is as natural for us to 
murmur as for a horse to' shake his head when the flies tease him, 
or a wheel to rattle when a spoke is loose ; but nature should not 
be the rule with Christians, or what is their religion worth? If a 
soldier fights no better than a ploughboy, ofl" with his red coat. 
We expect more fruit from an apple-tree than from a thorn, and 
we have a right to do so. The disciples of a patient Saviour 
should be patien^ themselves. Grin and bear it is the old-fash- 
ioned advice, but sing and bear it is a great deal better. After all, 
we get very few cuts of the whip, considering what bad cattle we 
are ; and when we do smart a little, it is soon over. Pain past is 
pleasure, and experience comes by it. We ought not to be afraid 
of going down into Egypt, when we know we shall come out of 
it with jewels of silver and gold. 

Impatient people water their miseries and hoe up their com- 
forts ; sorrows are visitors that come \Yithout invitation, but com- 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 393 

plaining minds send a wagon to bring their troubles home in. 
Many people are born crying, live complaining, and die disap- 
pointed ; they chew the bitter pill which they would not even 
know to be bitter if they had the sense to swallow it whole in a 
cup of patience and water. They think every other man's burden 
to be light, and their own feathers to be heavy as lead ; they are 
hardly done by in their own opinion ; no one's toes are so often 
trodden on by the black ox as theirs ; the snow falls thickest 
round their door, and the hail rattles hardest on their windows ; 
and yet, if the truth were known, it is their fancy rather than 
their fate, which makes things go so hard with them. Many 
would be well off if they could but think so. A little sprig of 
the herb called content put into the poorest soup will make it 
taste as rich as the Lord Mayor's turtle. John Ploughman grows 
the plant in his garden, but the late hard winter nipped it terribly, 
so that he cannot afford to give his neighbors a slip of it; they 
had better follow Matthew xxv. 9, and go to those who sell and 
buy for themselves. Grace is a good soil to grow it in, but it 
wants watering from the fountain of mercy. 

To be poor is not always pleasant, but w^orse things than that 
happen at sea. Small shoes are apt to pinch, but not if you have 
a small foot ; if we have little means it will be well to have little 
desires. Poverty is no shame, but being discontented with it is. 
In some things the poor are better off than the rich ; for if a poor 
man has to seek meat for his stomach, he is more likely to get 
what he is after than a rich man who seeks a stomach for his 
meat. A poor man's table is soon spread, and his labor spares 
his buying sauce. The best doctors are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and 
Dr. Merryman, and many a godly ploughman has all these gentle- 
men to wait upon him. Plenty makes dainty, but hunger finds no 
fault with the cook. Hard work brings health, and an ounce of 
health is worth a sack of diamonds. It is not how much we have, 
but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness. There is more 
sweet in a spoonful of sugar than in a cask of vinegar. It is not 
the quantity of our goods, but the blessing of God on what we 
have that makes us truly rich. The parings of a pippin are better 
than a whole crab ; a dinner of herbs with peace is better than a 



394 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Stalled ox and contention therewith. " Better is little with the fear 
of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith." A Httle 
wood will heat my httle oven; why, then, should I murmur 
because all the woods are not mine? 

When troubles come, it is of no use to fly in the face of God 
by hard thoughts of providence ; that is kicking against the 
pricks and hurting your feet. The trees bow in the wind, and so 
must we. Every time the sheep bleats, it loses a mouthful, and 
every time we complain we miss a blessing. Grumbling is a bad 
trade and yields no profit, but patience has a golden hand. Our 
evils will soon be over. After rain comes clear shining; black 
crows have wings; every winter turns to spring; every night 
breaks into morning. 

" Blow the wind never so fast, 
It will lower at last." 

If the door shall be shut God will open another; if the peas do 
not yield well, the beans may; if one hen leaves her eggs, another 
will bring all her brood ; there 's a bright side to all things, and a 
good God everywhere. Somewhere or other in the worst flood of 
trouble, there always is a dry spot for contentment to get its foot 
on, and if there were not, it would learn to swim. 

Friends, let us take to patience and water-gruel, as the old folks 
used to tell us, rather than catch the miserables, and give others 
the disease by wickedly finding fault with God. The best remedy 
for affliction is submitting to Providence. What can't be cured 
must be endured. If we cannot get bacon, let us bless God that 
there are still some cabbages in the garden. Must is a hard nut 
to crack, but it has a sweet kernel. " All things work together for 
good to them that love God." Whatever falls from the skies is, 
sooner or later, good for the land ; whatever comes to us from God 
is worth having, even though it be a rod. We cannot by nature 
like trouble any more than a mouse can fall in love with a cat, and 
yet Paul by grace came to glory in tribulations also. Losses and 
crosses are heavy to bear, but when our hearts are right with God, 
it is wonderful how easy the yoke becomes. We must needs go 
to glory by the way of Weeping Cross ; and as we were never 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND '* PICTURES." 



395 



promised that we should ride to heaven in a feather-bed, we must 
not be disappointed when we see the road to be rough, as our 
fathers found it before us. All 's well that ends well ; and there- 
fore let us plough the heaviest soil with our eye on the sheaves of 
harvest, and learn to sing at our labor while others murmur. 



ALL ARE NOT HUNTERS THAT BLOW THE HORN. 

He does not look much like a hunter ! Nimrod would never 
own him. But how he blows 1 Goodness gracious, what a row ! as 
the linnet said when he heard a donkey singing his evening hymn. 




There's more goes to ploughing than knowing how to whistle; 
and hunting is not all tally-ho and horn-blowing. Appearances 
are deceitful. Outward show is not everything. All are not 
butchers that carry a steel, and all are not bishops that wear 
aprons. You must not buy goods by the label, for I have heard 



39^ LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

that the finer the trade-mark the worse the article. Never have 
we seen more horn or less hunter than in our picture. Blow away, 
my hearty, till your toes look out of your boots ; there 's no fear 
of your killing either fox or stag! 

Now, the more people blow, the more they may, but he is a 
fool who believes all they say. As a rule, the smallest boy carries 
the biggest fiddle, and he w^ho makes most boast has least roast. 
He who has least wisdom has most vanity. John Lackland is 
wonderfully fond of being called Esquire, and there 's none so 
pleased at being dubbed a doctor as the man who least deserves 
it. Many a D. D. is fiddle-de-dee. I have heard say, '* Always 
talk big, and somebody will think you great; " but my old friend 
Will Shepherd says : " Save your wind for running up a hill, and 
don't give us big words off a weak stomach. Look," said he once 
to me, " there 's Solomon Braggs holding up his head like a hen 
drinking water, but there 's nothing in it ! With him it 's much 
din and little done." 

" Of all speculations the market holds forth, 
The best that I know for a lover of i)elf 
Were to buy up this Braggs at the price he is worth, 
And sell him — at that which he sets on himsplf." 

Before honor is humility; but a prating fool shall fall, and when 
he falls very few will be in a hurry to pick him up. 

A long tongue generally goes with a short hand. We are most 
of us better at saying than doing. We can all tattle ■ away from 
the battle, but many fly when the fight is nigh. Some are all 
sound and fury, and when they have bragged their brag all is 
over, and amen. The fat Dutchman was the wisest pilot in Flush- 
ing, only he never went to sea ; and the Irishman was the finest 
rider in Connaught, only he would never trust himself on a horse, 
because, as he said, '* he generally fell off before he got on." A 
bachelor's wife is always well managed, and old maids always 
bring up their children in prime style. We think we can do what 
we are not called to, and if by chance the thing falls to our lot we 
do worse than those we blamed. Hence it is wise to be slow in 
foretelling what we will do, for, — 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 397 

" Thus saith the proverb of the wise, 
* Who boasteth least tells fewest lies.' " 

There is another old rhyme which is as full of reason as a pod is 

full of peas, — 

" Little money is soonest spended ; 
Fewest words are soonest mended." 

Of course, every potter praises his own pot, and we can all toot 
a little on our own trumpet; but some blow as if nobody ever 
had a horn but themselves. "After me the flood," says the mighty 
big man, and whether it be so or no we have floods enough while 
he lives. I mean floods of words, words, words, enough to drown 
all your senses. Oh that th^ man had a mouth big enough to 
say all he has to say at one go, and have done, with it ! But 
then one had need get to the other end of the world till his talk 
had run itself dry. Oh for a quiet hayloft, or a sawpit, or a dun- 
geon, where the sound of the jawbone would no more be heard! 
They say a brain is worth little if you have not a tongue ; but 
what is a tongue worth without a brain? Bellowing is all very 
well, but the cow for me is that which fills the pail. A braying 
ass eats little hay, and that's a saving in fodder; but a barking 
dog catches no. game, and that's a loss to the owner. Noise is no 
profit, and talk hinders work. 

When a man's song is in his praise, let the hymn be short metre, 
and let the tune be in the minor key. He who talks forever about 
himself has a foolish subject, and is hkely to worry and weary all 
around him. Good wine needs no bush, and a man who can do 
well seldom boasts about it. The emptiest tub makes the loudest 
noise. .Those who give themselves out to be fine shots kill very 
few birds, and many a, crack ploughman does a shorter day's work 
than plain John, though he is nothing off the common ; and so on 
the whole it is pretty clear that the best huntsmen are not those 
who are for everlastingly blowing the horn. 



398 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



HE LIVES UNDER THE SIGN OF THE CAT'S FOOT. 



The question was once asked, When should a man marry? and 
the merry answer was, that for young men it is too soon, and 
for old men it is too late. This is all very fine, but it will not 
wash. Both the wisdom and the folly of men seem banded to- 
gether to make a mock of this doctrine. Men are such fools that 
they must and will marry, even if they marry fools. It is wise to 




marry when we can marry wisely, and then the sooner the better. 
How many show their sense in choosing a partner it is not for me 
to say, but I fear that in many cases love is blind, and makes a 
very blind choice. I don't suppose that some people would ever 
get married at all if love had its wits about it. It is a mystery 
how certain parties ever found partners ; truly there 's no accounting 
for tastes. However, as they make their bed they must lie on it, 
and as they tie the knot they must be tied by it. If a man catches 
a tartar, or lets a tartar catch him, he must take his dose of tartaric 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 399 

acid, and make as few ugly faces as he can. If a three-legged 
stool come flying through the air, he must be thankful for such a 
plain token of love from the woman of his choice, and the best 
thing he can do is to sit down on it and wait for the next little 
article. 

When it is said of a man, " He lives, under the sign of the cat's 
foot," he must try and please his pussy, that she may not scratch 
him more than such cats generally do. A good husband will gen- 
erally have a good wife, or make a bad wife better. Bad Jack 
makes a great noise about bad Jill, but there 's generally twenty 
of one where there 's a score of the other. They say a burden of 
one's own choosing is never felt to be heavy; but I don't know, 
some men are loaded with mischief as soon as they have a wife to 
carry. Yet 

A good woman is worth, if she were sold, 

The fairest crown that 's made of gold. 

She is a pleasure, a treasure, and a joy without measure. A good 
wife and health are a man's best wealth ; and he who is in such a 
case should envy no man's place. Even when a woman is a little 
tart, it is better than if she had no spirit, and made her house into 
a dirt pie. A shrew is better than a slut, though one can be quite 
miserable enough with either. If she is a good housewife, and 
looks well after the children, one may put up with a Caudle lec- 
ture now and then, though a cordial lecture would be a deal 
better. A husband is in a pickle indeed if he gets tied up to a 
regular scold ; he might as well be skinned and set up to his neck 
in a tub of brine. Did you ever hear the scold's song? Read it, 
you young folks who think of committing matrimony, and think 
twice before you get married once. 

When in the morn I ope mine eyes 

To entertain the day, 
Before my husband e'en can rise, 

I scold him, — then I pray. 

When I at stable take my place, 

Whatever be the meat, 
I first do scold, — and then say grace, 

If so disposed to eat. 



400 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Too fat, too lean, too hot, too cold, 

I always do complain ; 
Too raw, too roast, too young, too old, — 

Faults I will find or feign. 

Let it be flesh, or fowl, or fish. 

It never shall be said 
But I'll find fault with meat or dish, 

With master or with maid. 

But when I go to bed at night 

I heartily do weep, 
That I must part with my delight, — 

I cannot scold and sleep. 

However, this doth mitigate 

And much abate my sorrow, 
That though to-night it be too late, 

I '11 early scold to-morrow. 

When the husband is not a man, it is not to be wondered at if 
the wife wears the top-boots : the mare may well be the b^st horse 
when the other horse is a donkey. Well may a woman feel that 
she is lord and master when she has to earn the Hving for the 
family, as is sometimes the case. She ought not to be the head, 
but if she has all the brains, what is she to do? What poor' daw- 
dles many men would be without their wives ! As poor softy 
Simpkins says, if Bill's wife becomes a widow, who will cut the 
pudding up for him, and will there be a pudding at all? It is 
grand when the wife knows her place, and keeps it, and they both 
pull together in everything. Then she is a helpmeet indeed, and 
makes the house a home. Old friend Tusser says, — 

" When husband is absent let housewife be chief, 
And look to their labor who live from their sheaf; 
The housewife 's so named for she keepeth the house, 
And must tend on her profit as cat on a mouse." 

He is very pat upon it that much of household affairs must rest on 

the wife, and he writes : 

" Both out, not allow, 
Keep home, housewife thou." 

Like the old man and woman in the toy which shows the weather, 
one must be. sure to be in if the other goes out. When the king 
is abroad the queen must reign at home, and when he returns to 



'•JOHN PLOUGHxMAN'S TALK" AND '* PICTURES." 4OI 

his throne he is bound to look upon her as his crown, and prize 
her above gold and jewels. He should feel, " If there 's only one 
good wife in the whole world, I Ve got her." John Ploughman has 
long thought just that of his own wife, and after five and twenty 
years he is more sure of it than ever. He never bets, but he 
would not mind wagering a farthing cake that there is not a better 
woman on the surface of the globe than his own, very own beloved. 
Happy is the man who is happy in his wife. Let him love her as 
he loves himself, and a little better, for she is his better half. 

Thank God that hath so blest thee, 
And sit down, John, and rest thee. 

There is one case in which I don't wonder if the wife does put ner 
mate under the cat's foot, and that is when he slinks off to the 
public and wastes his wages. Even then love and gentleness is the 
best way of getting him home ; but, really, some topers have no 
feeling, and laugh at kindness, and therefore nobody can be sur- 
prised if the poor wife bristles up and gives her lord and master 
a taste of tongue. Nothing tries married love more than the 
pothouse. Wages wasted, wife neglected, children in rags: if she 
gives it him hot and strong, who can blame her? Pitch into him, 
good woman, and make him ashamed of himself, if you can. No 
wonder that you lead a cat-and-dog life while he is such a sorry 
dog. 

Still, you might as well go home and set him a better example, 
for two blacks will never make a white, and if you put him in hot 
water he 's sure to get some spirits to mix with it. 



A GOOD WORD FOR WIVES. 

We pulled up the horses at the sign of the " Good Woman; " 
and as there is good entertainment for man, if not for beast, under 
that sign, we will make a stay of it, and dip our pen into some of 
that superfine ink which has no galls in it. When he writes on so 
fair a subject, John Ploughman must be on his best behavior. 

26 



402 LIFE AND -LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

It is astonishing how many old sayings there are against wives : 
you may find nineteen to the dozen of them. The men years ago 
showed the rough side of their tongues whenever they spoke of 
their spouses. Some of these sayings are downright shocking; 
as, for instance, that very wicked one, " Every man has two good 
days with his wife, — the day he marries her and the day he buries 
her; " and that other, " He that loseth his wife and a farthing, has 
a great loss of the farthing." 

I recollect an old ballad that Gaffer Brooks used to sing about 
a man's being better hung than married ; it shows how common 
it was to abuse the married life. It is almost too bad to print it; 
but here it is as near as I remember it, — 

" There was a victim in a cart, 
One day for to be hanged, 
And his reprieve was granted, 
And the cart made for to stand. 

*' ' Come, marry a wife and save your life,' 
The judge aloud did cry ; 
' Oh. why should I corrupt my life ? ' 
The victim did reply. 

" * For here 's a crowd of every sort, 

And why should I prevent their sport ? 
The bargain 's bad in every part, 

The wife 's the worst, — drive on the cart.' " 

Now this rubbish does not prove that the women are bad, but 
that their husbands are good for nothing, or>else they would not 
make up such abominable slanders about their partners. The 
rottenest bough cracks first, and it looks as if the male side of 
the house was the worse of the two, for it certainly has made up 
the most grumbling proverbs. There have, no doubt, been some 
shockingly bad wives in the world, who have been provoking 
enough to make a man say, — 

" If a woman were as little as she is good, 

A peashell would make her a gown and a hood." 

But how many thousands have there been of true helpmeets, 
worth far more than their weight in gold ! There is only one 
Job's wife mentioned in the Bible and one Jezebel, but there are 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 403 

no end of Sarahs and Rebekahs. I am of Solomon's mind, that, 
as a rule, he that findeth a wife findeth a good thing. If there 's 
one bad shilling taken at the grocer's, all the neighbors hear of it, 
but of the hundreds of good ones report says nothing. A good 
woman makes no noise, and no noise is made about her; but a 
shrew is noted all over the parish. Taking them for all in all, they 
are most angelical creatures, and a great deal too good for half 
the husbands. 

It is much to the women's credit that there are very few old 
sayings against husbands, although in this case sauce for the goose 
would make capital sauce for the gander; and the mare has as 
good reasons for kicking as the horse has. They must be very 
forbearing, or they would have given the men a Roland for every 
Oliver. Pretty dears, they may be rather quick in their talk, but 
is it not the nature of bells and belles to have tongues that swing 
easy? They cannot be so very bad after all, or they would have 
h3d their revenge for the many cruel things which are said against 
them ; and if they are a bit masterful, their husbands cannot be 
such very great victims, or they would surely have sense enough 
to hold their tongues about it. Men don't care to have it known 
when they are thoroughly well henpecked, and I feel pretty cer- 
tain that the old sayings are nothing but chaff, for if they were 
true men would never dare to own it. 

A true wife is her husband's better half, his lump of delight, 
his flower of beauty, his guardian angel, and his heart's treasure. 
He says to her : " I shall in thee most happy be. In thee, my 
choice, I do rejoice. In thee I find content of mind. God's 
appointment is my contentment." In her company he finds his 
earthly heaven ; she is the light of his home, the comfort of his 
soul, and (for this world) the soul of his comfort. Whatever 
fortune God may send him, he is rich so long as she lives. His 
rib is the best bone in his body. 

The man who weds a lovins: wife, 
Whate'er betideth him in life, 

Shall bear up under all ; 
But he that finds an evil mate, 
No good can come within his gate, 

His cup is fill'd with gall. 



404 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

A good husband makes a good wife. Some men can neither do 
without wives nor with them ; they are wretched alone in what is 
called single blessedness, and they make their homes miserable 
when they get married ; they are like Tompkin's dog, which could 
not bear to be loose, and howled when it was tied up. Happy 
bachelors are likely to be happy husbands, and a happy husband 
is the happiest of men. A well-matched couple carry a joyful 
life between them, as the two spies carried the cluster of Eshcol. 
They are a brace of birds of Paradise. They multiply their joys 
by sharing them, and lessen their troubles by dividing them : this 
is fine arithmetic. The wagon of care rolls lightly along as they 
pull together ; and when it drags a little heavily, or there 's a 
hitch anywhere, they love each other all the more, and so lighten 
the labor. 

When a couple fall out, there are always faults on both sides, 
and generally there is a pound on one and sixteen ounces on the 
other. • When a home is miserable, it is as often the husband's 
fault as the wife's. Darby is as much to blame as Joan, and 
sometimes more. If the husband won't keep sugar in the cup- 
board, no wonder his wife gets sour. Want of bread makes want 
of love ; lean dogs fight. Poverty generally rides home on the 
husband's back, for it is not often the woman's place to go out 
working for wages. A man down our parts gave his wife a ring 
with this on it: *' If thee don't work, thee sha'n't eat." He was 
a brute. It is no business of hers to bring in the grist, — she is 
to see it is well used and not wasted ; therefore, I say, short com- 
mons are not her fault. She is not the bread-winner, but the 
bread-maker. She earns more at home than any wages she can 
get abroad. 

It is not the wife who smokes and drinks away the wages at the 
" Brown Bear " or the "Jolly Topers." One sees a drunken woman 
now and then, and it's an awful sight; but in ninety-nine cases 
out of a hundred it is the man who comes home tipsy and abuses 
the children, — the woman seldom does that. The poor drudge of 
a wife is a teetotaler, whether she likes it or no, and gets plenty 
of hot water as well as cold. Women are found fault with for often 
looking into the glass, but that is not so bad a glass as men drown 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 405 

their senses in. The wives do not sit boozing over the taproom fire ; 
they, poor souls, are shivering at home with the baby, watching 
the clock (if there is one), wondering when their lords and masters 
will come home, and crying while they wait. I wonder they don't 
strike. Some of them are about as wretched as a cockchafer on a 
pin, or a mOuse in a cat's mouth. They have to nurse the sick girl, 
and wash the dirty boy, and bear with the crying and noise of the 
children, while his lordship puts on his hat, lights his pipe, and 
goes off about his own pleasure, or comes in at his own time to 
find fault with his poor dame for not getting him a fine supper. 
How could he expect to be fed like a fighting-cock, w4ien he 
brought home so little money on Saturday night, and spends so 
much in worshipping Sir John Barleycorn? I say it, I know it, 
there 's many a house where there would be no scolding wife if there 
was not a skulking, guzzling husband. Fellows not fit to be cut 
up for mops drink and drink till all is blue, and then turn on their 
poor hacks for not having more to give them. Don't tell me, I 
say it and will maintain it, a woman can't help being vexed when 
with all her mending and striving she can't keep house, because 
her husband won't let her. It would provoke any of us if we had 
to make bricks without straw, keep the pot boiling without fire, 
and pay the piper out of an empty purse. What can she get out 
of the oven when she has neither meal nor dough? You bad 
husbands, you are thoroughbred sneaks, and ought be hung up 
by your heels till you know better. 

They say a man of straw is worth a woman of gold, but I can- 
not swallow it ; a man of straw is worth no more than a woman 
of straw, let old sayings lie as they like. Jack is no better than 
Jill, as a rule. When there is wisdom in the husband, there 's gen- 
erally gentleness in the wife, and between them the old wedding 
wish is worked out: "One year of joy, another of comfort, and 
all the rest of content." Where hearts agree, there joy will be. 
United hearts death only parts. They say marriage is not often 
merry-age, but very commonly mar-age ; well, if so, the coat and 
waistcoat have as much to do with it as the gown and petticoat. 
The honeymoon need not come to an end ; and when it does, it is 
often the man's fault for eating all the honey, and leaving nothing 



406 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

but moonshine ; when they both agree that whatever becomes of 
the moon they will each keep up their share of honey, there 's merry 
living. When a man dwells under the sign of the cat's foot, where 
faces get scratched, either his wife did not marry a man, or he did 
not marry a woman. If a man cannot take care of himself, his 
wit must be as scant as the wool of a blue dog. I don't pity most 
of the men martyrs ; I save my pity for the women. When the 
Dunmow-flitch is lost, neither of the pair will eat the bacon; but 
the wife is the most likely to fast for the want of it. Every herring 
must hang by its own gill, and every person must account for his 
own share in home quarrels ; but John Ploughman can't bear to 
see all the blame laid on the women. Whenever a dish is broke 
the cat did it, and whenever there is mischief, there 's a wonrian at 
the bottom of it : here are two as pretty lies as you will meet with in 
a month's march. There 's a why for every wherefore, but the why 
for family jars does not always lie with the housekeeper. I know 
some 'Women have long tongues, then the more 's the pity that their 
husbands should set them going; but for the matter of talk, just 
look into a bar parlor when the men's jaws are well oiled with 
liquor, and if any women living can talk faster or be more stupid 
than the men, my name is not John Ploughman. 

When I had got about as far as this, in stepped our minister, and 
he said, ''John, you 've got a tough subject, a cut above you; I '11 
lend you a rare old book to help you over the stile." *'Weli, 
sir," said I, " a little help is worth a great deal of fault-finding, and 
I shall be uncommonly obliged to you." He sent me down old 
William Seeker's *' Wedding Ring," and a real wise fellow that 
Seeker was. I could not do any other than pick out some of his 
pithy bits ; they are very flavory, and such as are likely to glue 
themselves to the memory. He says : " Hast thou a soft heart? It 
is of God's breaking. Hast thou a sweet wife? She is of God's 
making. The Hebrews have a saying, ' He is not a man that hath 
not a woman.' Though man alone may be good, yet it is not good 
that man should be alone. ' Every good gift and every perfect gift 
is from above.' A wife, though she be not a perfect gift, is a good 
gift, a beam darted from the Sun of mercy. How happy are those 
marriages where Christ is at the wedding ! Let none but those 



•* JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK " AND " PICTURES." 407 

who liave found favor in God's eyes, find favor in yours. Hus- 
bands should spread a mantle of charity over their wives' infirmi- 
ties. Do not put out the candle because of the snuff. Husbands 
and wives should provoke one another to love, and they should 
love one another notwithstanding provocations. The tree of love 
should grow up in the midst of the family as the tree of life grew 
in the garden of Eden. Good servants are a great blessing ; good 
children a greater blessing ; but a good wife is the greatest bless- 
ing ; and such a help let him seek for her that wants one ; let him 
sigh for her that hath lost one ; let him delight in her that enjoys 
one." 

To come down from the old Puritan's roast beef to my own pot 
herbs, or, as they say, to put Jack after gentleman, I will tell my 
own experience, and have done. 

My experience of my first wife, who will, I hope, live to be my 
last, is much as follows : matrimony came from Paradise, and leads 
to it. I never was half so happy before I was a married man as 1 
am now. When you are married, your bliss begins. I have no 
doubt that where there is much love there will be much to love, 
and where love is scant faults will be plentiful. If there is only 
one good wife in England, I am the man who put the ring on 
her finger, and long may she wear it ! God bless the dear soul ! 
if she can put up with me, she shall never be put down by me. 

If I were not married to-day, and saw a suitable partner, I 
would be married to-morrow morning before breakfast. What 
think you of that? ** Why," says one, " I think John would get a 
new wife if he were left a widower." Well, and what if he did, 
how could he better show that he was happy with his first? I 
declare I would not say as some do, that they married to have 
some one to look after the children ; I should marry to have some 
one to look after myself. John Ploughman is a sociable soul, and 
could not do in a house by himself. One man, when he married 
his fourth wife, put on the ring, — 

" If I survive, I '11 make it five." 

What an old Bluebeard ! Marriages are made in heaven ; matri- 
mony in itself is good, but there are fools who turn meat into 



408 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

poison, and make a blessing into a curse. " This is a good rope," 
said Pedley, " I '11 hang myself with it." A man who has sought 
his wife from God, and married her for her character, and not 
merely for her figure-head, may look for a blessing on his choice. 
They who join their love in God above, who pray to love and 
love to pray, will find that love and joy will never cloy. 

He who respects his wife will find that she respects him. With 
what measure he metes, it shall be measured to him again, good 
measure, pressed down and running over. He who consults his 
spouse will have a good counsellor. I have heard our minister 
say, "Women's instincts are often truer than man's reason; " they 
jump at a thing at once, and they are wise off-hand. Say- what 
you will of your wife's advice, it 's as likely as not you will be. sorry 
you did not take it. He who speaks ill of women should remem- 
ber the breast he was nursed at, and be ashamed of himself. He 
who ill treats his wife ought to be whipped at the cart-tail, and 
would not I like a cut at him ! J would just brush a fly or two 
off, trust me for that. So no more at present, as the thatcher said 
when he had cleared every dish on the table. 



STICK TO IT AND DO IT. 

Set a stout heart to a stiff hill, and the wagon will get to the 
top of it. There 's nothing so hard but a harder thing will get 
through it; a strong job can be managed by a strong resolution. 
Have at it and have it. Stick to it and succeed. Till a thing is 
done, men wonder that yOu think it can be done, and when you 
have done it they wonder it was never done before. 

In my picture the wagon is drawn by two horses ; but I would 
have every man who wants to make his way in life pull as if all 
depended on himself Very little is done right when it is left to 
other people. The more hands to do work the less there is done. 
One man will carry two pails of water for himself; two men will 
only carry one pail between them ; and three will come home with 



JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK " AND '' PICTURES." 



409 



nev^er a drop at all. A child with several mothers will die before 
it runs alone. Know your business and give your mind to it, 
and you will find a buttered loaf where a sluggard loses his last 
crust. 

In these times it 's no use being a farmer if you don't mean 
work. The days are gone by for gentlemen to make a fortune off 




of a farm by going out shooting half their time. If foreign 
wheats keep on coming in, farmers will soon learn that, — 

" He who by the plough would thrive, 
Himself must either hold or drive." 

Going to Australia is of no use to a man if he carries a set of lazy 
bones with him. There 's a living to be got in old England at 
almost any trade if a fellow will give his mind to it. A man who 
works hard and has his health and strength is a great deal hap- 
pier than my lord Tom Noddy, who does nothing and is always 
ailing. Do you know the old song of " The Nobleman's Generous 
Kindness"? You should hear our Will sing it. I recollect some 
of the verses. The first one gives a picture of the hard-working 
laborer with a large family, — 



41 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

" Thus careful and constant, each morning he went, 
Unto his day labor with joy and content ; 
So jocular and jolly he 'd whistle and sing, 
As blithe and as brisic as the birds in the spring." 

The other lines are the ploughman's own story of how he spent 
his life, and I wish that all countrymen could say the same, — 

" I reap and I mow, I harrow and I sow, 
Sometimes a-hedging and ditching I go ; 
No work comes amiss, for I thrash and I plough. 
Thus my bread I do earn by the sweat of my brow. 

*' My wife she is willing to pull in a yoke, 
We live like two lambs, nor each other provoke ; 
We both of us strive, Hke the laboring ant, 
And do our endeavors to keep us from want. 

" And when I come home from my labor at night, 
To my wife and my children in whom I delight, 
I see them come round me with prattling noise. 
Now these are the riches a poor man enjoys. 

" Though I am as weary as weary may be. 
The youngest I commonly dance on my knee ; 
I find in content a continual feast, 
And never repine at my lot in the least." 

So, you see, the poor laborer may work hard and be happy all 
the same ; and surely those who are in higher stations may do the 
Hke if they like. 

He is a sorry dog who wants game and will not hunt for it: let 
us never lie down in idle despair, but follow on till we succeed. 

Rome was not built.in a day, nor much else, unless it be a dog- 
kennel. Things which cost no pains are slender gains. Where 
there has been little sweat there will be little sweet. Jonah's 
gourd came up in a night, but then it perished in a night. Light 
come, light go ; that which flies in at one window will be likely to 
fly out at another. It 's a very lean hare that hounds catch with- 
out running for it, and a sheep that is no trouble to shear has very 
little wool. For this reason a man who cannot push on against 
wind and weather stands a poor chance in this worlds 

Perseverance is the main thing in life. To hold on, and hold 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 41 1 

out to the end, is the chief matter. If the race could be won by 
a spurt, thousands would wear the blue ribbon ; but they are 
short-winded, and pull up after the first gallop. They begin with 
flying, and end in crawling backward. When it comes to collar 
work, many horses turn to jibbing. If the apples do not fall at 
the first shake of the tree, your hasty folks are too lazy to fetch a 
ladder, and in too much of a hurry to wait till the fruit is ripe 
enough to fall of itself. The hasty man is as hot as fire at the 
outset, and as cold as ice at the end. He is like the Irishman's 
saucepan, which had many good points about it, but it had no 
bottom. He who cannot bear the burden and heat of the day is 
not worth his salt, much less his potatoes. 

Before you begin a thing, make sure it is the right thing to do : 
ask Mr. Conscience about it. Do not try to do what is impossible : 
ask Common Sense. It is of no use to blow against a hurricane, 
or to fish for whales in a washing-tub. Better give up a foolish 
f>lan than go on and burn your fingers with it: better bend your 
neck than knock your forehead. But when you have once made 
up your mind to go a certain road, don't "let every molehill turn 
you out of the path. One stroke fells not an oak. Chop away, 
axe, you '11 down with the tree at last ! A bit of iron does not 
soften the moment you put it into the fire. Blow, smith ! Put on 
more coals ! Get it red hot and hit hard with the hammer, and 
you will make a ploughshare yet. Steady does it. Hold on, and 
you have it ! Brag is a fine fellow at crying '' Tally-ho ! " but 
Perseverance brings home the brush. 

We ought not to be put out of heart by difficulties : they are 
sent on purpose to try the stuff we are made of; and depend 
upon it they do us a world of good. There 's a sound reason 
why there are bones in our meat and stones in our land. A world 
where everything was easy would be a nursery for babies, but not 
at all a fit place for men. Celery is not sweet till it has felt a 
frost, and men don't come to their perfection till disappointment 
has dropped a half-hundred weight or two on their toes. Who 
would know good horses if there were no heavy loads? If the 
clay was not stifT, my old Dapper and Violet would be thought no 
more of than Tomkins's donkey. Besides, to work hard for success 



412 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

makes us fit to bear it: we enjoy the bacon all the more because 
we have got an appetite by earning it. When prosperity pounces 
on a man like an eagle, it often throws him down. If we overtake 
the cart, it is a fine thing to get up and ride ; but when it comes 
behind us at a tearing rate, it is very apt to knock us down and 
run over us, and when we are lifted into it v/e.find our leg is 
broken, or our arm out of joint, and we cannot enjoy the ride. 
Work is always healthier for us than idleness ; it is always better 
to wear out shoes than sheets. I sometimes think, when I put on 
my considering cap, that success in life is something like getting 
married : there 's a very great deal of pleasure in the courting, and 
it is not a bad thing when it is a moderate time on the road. 
Therefore, young man, learn to wait, and work on. Don't ^throw 
away your rod, the fish will bite sonie time or other. ' The cat 
watches long at the hole, but catches the mouse at last. The 
spider mends her broken web, and the flies are taken before long. 
Stick to your calling, plod on, and be content; for, make sure, if 
you can undergo you shall overcome. 

If bad l>e your prospects, don't sit still and cry, 
But jump up, and say to yourself, "I will try." 

Miracles will never cease ! My neighbor, Simon Gripper, was 
taken generous about three months ago. The story is well worth 
telling. He saw a poor blind man, led by a little girl, playing on 
a fiddle. His heart was touched, for a wonder. He said to me, 
** Ploughman, lend me a penny, there 's a good fellow." I fumbled 
in my pocket, and found two halfpence, and handed them to him. 
More fool I, for he will never pay me again. He gave the blind 
fiddler one of those halfpence, and kept the other, and I have not 
seen either Gripper or my penny since, nor shall I get the money 
back till the gate-post outside my garden grows Ribstone pippins. 
There 's generosity for you ! The old saying which is put at the 
top of this bit of my talk brought him into my mind, for he sticks 
to it most certainly: he lives as badly as a church-mouse, and 
works as hard as if he was paid by the piece and had twenty 
children to keep; but I would no more hold him up for an ex- 
ample than I would show a toad as a specimen of a pretty bird. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 413 

While I talk to you young people about getting on, I don't want 
you to think that hoarding up money is real success; nor do I 
wish you to rise an inch above an honest ploughman's lot, if it 
cannot be done without being mean or wicked. The workhouse, 
prison as it is, is a world better than a mansion built by roguery 
and greed. If you cannot get on honestly, be satisfied not to get 
on. The blessing of God is riches enough for a wuse man, and all 
the world is not enough for a fool. Old Gripper's notion of how 
to prosper has, I dare say, a good deal of truth in it, and the 
more 's the pity. The Lord deliver us from such a prospering, I 
say. That old sinner has often hummed these lines into my ears 
when we have got into an argument, and very pretty lines they 
are not, certainly : — 

" To win the prize in the world's great race, 
A man should have a brazen face ; 
An iron arm to give a stroke, 
And a heart as sturdy as an oak ; 
Eyes like a cat, good in the dark. 
And teeth as piercing as a shark ; 
Ears to hear the gentlest sound. 
Like moles that burrow in the ground ; 
A mouth as close as patent locks, 
And stomach stronger than an ox; 
His tongue should be a razor-blade, 
His conscience india-rubber made ; 
His blood as cold as polar ice, 
His hand as grasping as a vice. 
His shoulders should be adequate 
To bear a couple thousand weight ; 
His legs, like pillars, firm and strong, 
To move the great machine alon* ; . 
With supple knees to cringe and crawl, 
And cloven feet placed under all." 

It amounts to this : Be a devil in order to be happy. Sell yourself 
outright to the old dragon, and he will give you the world and 
the glory thereof. But remember the question of the old Book: 
" What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose 
his own soul? " 



414 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



MEN WITH TWO FACES. 

Even bad men praise consistency. Thieves like honest men, 
for they are the best to rob. When you know where to find a 
man, he has one good point at any rate ; but a fellow who howls 
with the wolves, and bleats with the sheep, gets nobody's good 
word, unless it be the devil's. To carry two faces under one hat is, 
however, very common. Many roost with the poultry, and go 
shares with Reynard. Many look as if butter would not melt in 
their mouths, and yet can spit fire when it suits their purpose. I 
read the other day an advertisement about reversible coats : the 
tailor who sells them must be making a fortune. Holding with 
the hare and running with the hounds is still in fashion. Consis- 
tency is about as scarce in the world as musk in a dog-kennel. 

You may trust some men as far as you can see them, but no 
further, for new company makes them new men. Like water, they 
boil or freeze according to the temperature. Some do this because 
they have no principles ; they are of the weathercock persuasion, 
and turn with the wind. You might as well measure the moon for 
a suit of clothes as know what they are. They believe in that 
which pays best. They always put up at the Golden Fleece. 
Their mill grinds any grist which you bring to it if the ready 
money is forthcoming; and they go with every wind, north, south, 
east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, nor'-nor'- 
east, southwest-by-south, or any other in all the world. Like 
frogs, they can live on land or water, and are not at all particular 
which it is. Like a cat, they always fall on their feet, and will stop 
anywhere if you butter their toes. They love their friends dearly, 
but their love lies in the cupboard, and if that be bare, like a 
mouse, their love runs off to some other larder. They say, " Leave 
you, dear girl? Never, while you have a shilling." How they 
scuttle off if you come to the bad ! Like rats, they leave a sinking 

ship. 

When good cheer is lacking, 
Such friends will be packing. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND '' PICTURES." 415 

Their heart follows the pudding. While the pot boils they sit by 
the fire ; when the meal-tub is empty they play at turnabout. 
They believe in the winning horse ; they will wear anybody's coat 
who may choose to give them one ; they are to be bought by the 
dozen, like mackerel, but he who gives a penny for them wastes 
his money. Profit is their god, and whether they make it out of 
you or your enemy, the money is just as sweet to them. Heads 
or tails are alike to them so long as they win. High road or back 
lane, all 's the same to them so that they can get home with the 
loaf in the basket. They are friends to the goose, but they will 
eat his giblets. So long as the water turns their wheel, it is none 
the worse for being muddy; they would burn their mother's cofifin 
if they were short of firing, and sell their own father if they could 
turn a penny by the old gentleman's bones. They never lose a 
chance of minding the main chance. 

Others are shifty because they are so desperately fond of good 
fellowship. '* Hail fellow, well met ! " is their cry, be it traveller 
or highwayman. They are so good-natured that they must needs 
agree with everybody. They are cousins of "Mr. Anything. Their 
brains are in other people's heads. If they were at Rome they 
would kiss the Pope's toe, but when they are at home they make 
themselves hoarse with shouting, '* No Popery ! " They admire 
the Vicar of Bray, whose principle was to be the Vicar of Bray, 
whether the Church was Protestant or Popish. They are mere time- 
servers, in hopes that the times may serve thern. They belong 
to the party which wears the yellow colors, not in their button- 
holes, but in the palms of their hands. Butter them, and, like 
turnips, you may eat them. Pull the rope, and, like the bells, they 
will ring as you choose to make them, funeral knell or wedding 
peal, come to church or go to the devil. They have no backbones ; 
you may bend them like willow wands, backwards or forwards, 
whichever way you please. Like oysters, anybody may pepper 
them who can open them. Sweet to you and sweet to your 
enemy. They blow hot and cold. They try to be Jack-o'-both- 
sides, and deserve to be kicked like a football by both parties. 

Some are hypocrites by nature ; slippery as eels, and piebald 
like Squire Smoothey's mare. Like a drunken man, they could 



41 6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

not walk straight if they were to try. Like corn-dealers, they are 
rogues in-grain. They wind in and out like a Surrey lane. They 
were born of the breed of St. Judas. The double shuffle is their 
favorite game, and honesty their greatest hatred. Honey is on their 
tongue, but gall in their hearts. They are mongrel bred, like the 
gypsy's dog. Like a cat's feet, they show soft pads, but carry 
sharp claws. If their teeth are not rotten, their tongues are, and 
their hearts are like dead men's graves. If speaking the truth and 
lying were equally profitable, they would naturally prefer to lie, 
for, like dirt to a pig, it would be congenial. They fawn, and 
flatter, and cringe, and scrape ; for, like snails, they make their 
way by their slime ; but all the while they hate ydu in their hearts, 
and only wait for a chance to stab yOu. Beware of those who 
came from the town of Deceit. Mr. Facing-both-ways, Mr. Fair- 
speech, and Mr. Two-tongues are neighbors who are best at a 
distance. Though they look one way, as boatmen do, they are 
pulling the other; they are false as the devil's promises, and as 
cruel as death and the grave. 

Religious deceivers are the worst of vermin, and I fear they are 
as plentiful as rats in an old wheatstack. 

They are like a silver pin, 
Fair without but foul within. 

They cover up their black flesh with white feathers. Saturday and 
Sunday make a wonderful difference in them. They have the fear 
of the minister a deal more before their eyes than the fear of God. 
Their religion lies in imitating the religious; they have none of 
the root of the matter in them. They carry Dr. Watts's hymn- 
book in their pocket, and sing a roaring song at the same time. 
Their Sunday coats are the best part about them ; the nearer you 
get to their hearts the more filth you will find. They prate like 
parrots, but their talk and their walk do not agree. Some of them 
are fishing for customers, and a little pious talk is a cheap adver- 
tisement; and if the seat at the church or the meeting costs a 
trifle, they make it up out of short weights. They don't worship 
God while they trade, but they trade on their worship. Others of 
the poorer sort go to church for soup and bread and coal tickets. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 417 

They love the communion because of the alms' money. Some of 
the dear old Mrs. Goodbodies want a blessed almshouse, and so 
they profess to be so blessed under the blessed ministry of their 
blessed pastor every blessed Sabbath. Charity suits them if faith 
does not; they know which side their bread is buttered on. 

Others make a decent show in religion to quiet their con- 
sciences; they use it as a salve for their wounds,-^ and if they 
could satisfy heaven as easily as they quiet themselves, it would 
be a fine thing for them. It has been my lot to meet with some 
who went a long way in profession, as far as I could see, for 
nothing but the love of being thought a deal of. They got a little 
knot of friends to believe in their fine talk, and take all in for 
gospel that they liked to say. Their opinion was the true measure 
of a preacher's soundness ; they could settle up everything by 
their own know, and they had gallons of XXX experience for 
those who liked something hot and strong. But dear, dear ! if 
they had but condescended to show a little Christian practice 
as well, how much better their lives would have weighed up ! 
These people are like owls, which look to be big birds, but they 
are not, for they are all feathers ; and they look wonderfully know- 
ing in the twilight, but when the light comes they are regular 
boobies. 

Hypocrites of all sorts are abominable, and he who deals with 
them will rue it. He who tries to cheat the Lord will be quite 
ready to cheat his fellow men. Great cry generally means little 
wool. Many a big chimney in which you expect to see bacon and 
hams, when you look up it, has nothing to show you but its empty 
hooks and black soot. Some men's windmills are only nut- 
crackers — their elephants are nothing but sucking-pigs. It is not 
all who go to church or meeting that truly pray, nor those who 
sing loudest that praise God most, nor those who pull the longest 
faces who are the most in earnest. 

What mean animals hypocrites must be ! Talk of polecats and 
weasels, they are nothing to them. Better be a dead dog than a 
live hypocrite. Surely when the devil sees hypocrites at their 
little game, it must be as good as a play to him ; he tempts 
genuine Christians, but he lets these alone, because he is sure of 

27 



41 8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

them. He need not shoot at lame ducks ; his dog can pick them 
up any day. 

Depend upon it, friends, if a straight Hne will not pay, a crooked 
one won't. What is got by shuffling is very dangerous gain. It 
may give a moment's peace to wear a mask, but deception will 
come home to you, and bring sorrow with it. Honesty is the best 
policy. If the lion's skin does not do, never try the fox's. Be as 
true as steel. Let your face and hands, like the church clock, 
always tell how your inner works are going. Better be laughed at 
as Tom Tell-truth than be praised as Crafty Charlie. Plain dealing 
may bring us trouble, but it is better than shuffling. At the last 
the upright will have their reward; but for the double-minded to 
get to heaven is as impossible as for a man to swim across the 
Atlantic with a millstone under each arm. 



ALL IS LOST THAT IS POURED INTO A CRACKED DISH. 

Cook is wasting her precious liquor, for it runs out almost as 
fast as it runs in. The sooner she stops that game the better. 
This makes me think of a good deal of preaching; it is labor in 
vain, because it does not stay in the minds of the hearers, but 
goes in at one. ear and out at the other. When men go to market 
they are all alive to do a trade, but in a place of worship they are 
not more than half awake, and do not seem to care whether they 
profit or not by what they hear. I once heard a preacher say, 
" Half of you are asleep, half are inattentive, and the rest — " He 
never finished that sentence, for the people began to smile, and 
here and there one burst out laughing. Certainly, many only go 
to meeting to stare about. 

" Attend your church, the parson cries : 
To church each fair one goes ; 
The old ones go to close their eyes, 
The young to eye their clothes." 

You might as well preach to the stone images in the old church 
as to people who are asleep. Some old fellows come into our 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 



419 



meeting, pitch into their corner, and settle themselves down for a 
quiet snooze as knowingly as if the pew was a sleeping-car on the 
railway. Still, all the sleeping at service is not the fault of the 
poor people, for some parsons put a lot of sleeping stuff into 
their sermons. Will Shepherd says they mesmerize the people. 
(I think that is the right word, but I 'm not sure.) I saw a verse 




in a real live book, by Mr. Cheales, the vicar of Brockham, a place 
which is handy to my home. I '11 give it you : — 

" The ladies praise our curate's eyes : 
1 never see their light divine, 
For when he prays he closes them. 
And when he preaches closes mine." 

Well, if curates are heavy in style, the people will soon be heavy 
in sleep. Even when hearers are awake, many of them are for- 
getful. It is like pouring a jug of ale between the bars of a grid- 
iron, to try and teach them good doctrine. Water on a duck's 
back does have some effect, but sermons by the hundred are as 
much lost upon many men's hearts as if they had been spoken to 
a kennel of hounds. Preaching to some fellows is like whipping 



420 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

• 

the water or lashing the air. As well talk to a turnip, or whistle 

to a dead donkey, as preach to these dull ears. A year's ser~ 

mons will not produce an hour's repentance till the grace of God 

comes in. 

We have a good many hangers-on who think that their duty to 
God consists in hearing sermons, and that the best fruit of their 
hearing is to talk of what they have heard. How they do lay the 
law down when they get argifying about doctrines ! Their religion 
all runs to ear and tongue : neither their heart nor their hand is a 
scrap the better. This is poor work, and will never pay the piper. 
The sermon which only gets as far as the ear is like a dinner eaten 
in a dream. It is ill to lie soaking in the gospel like a bit of coal 
in a milkpan, never the whiter for it all. 

What can be the good of being hearers only? It disappoints 
the poor preacher, and it brings no blessing to the man himself. 
Looking at a plum won't sweeten your mouth, staring at a coat 
won't cover your back, and lying on the bank won't catch the fish 
in the river. The cracked dish is never the better for all that is 
poured into it: it is like our forgetful heart, it wants to be taken 
away, and a new one put instead of it. 



TRY. 

Of all the pretty little songs I have ever heard my youngsters 
sing, that is one of the best which winds up, — 

" If at first you don't succeed,' 
Try, try, try again." 

I recommend it to grown-up people who are down in the mouth, 
and fancy that the best thing they can do is to give up. Nobody 
knows what he can do till he tries. " We shall get through it now," 
said Jack to Harry, as they finished up the pudding. Everything 
new is hard work, but a little of the " Try " ointment rubbed on 
the hand and worked into the heart makes all things easy. 

Can't do it sticks in the mud, but Try soon drags the wagon 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 42 1 

out of the rut. The fox said Try, and he got away from the 
hounds when they almost snapped at him. The bees said Try, 
and turned flowers into honey. The squirrel said Try, and up he 
went to the top of the beech-tree. The snowdrop said Try, and 
bloomed in the cold snows of winter. The sun said Try, and the 
spring soon threw Jack Frost out of the saddle. The young lark 
said Try, and he found his new wings took him over hedges and 
ditches, and up where his father was singing. The ox said Try, 
andploughed the field from end to end. No hill too steep for Try 
to climb, no clay too stiff for Try to plough, no field too wet for 
Try to drain, no hole too big for Try to mend. 

" By little strokes 
Men fell great oaks." 

By a spadeful at a time the navvies digged the cutting, cut a big 
hole through the hill, and heaped up the embankment. 

" The stone is hard, and the drop is small, 
But a hole is made by the constant fall." 

What man has done man can do, and what has never been may be. 
Ploughmen have got to be gentlemen, cobblers have turned their 
lapstones into gold, and tailors have sprouted into Members of 
Parliament. Tuck up your shirt-sleeves, young Hopeful, and go 
at it. Where there's a will there's a way. The sun shines for all 
the world. Believe in God and stick to hard work, and see if the 
mountains are not removed. Faint heart never won fair lady. 
Cheer, boys, cheer, God helps them that help themselves. Never 
mind luck: that's what the fool had when he killed himself with 
eating suet-pudding; the best luck in all the world is made up of 
joint-oil and sticking-plaster. 

Don't wait for helpers. Try those two old friends, your strong 
arms. Self's the man. If the fox wants poultry for his cubs he 
must carry the chickens himself. None of her friends 'can help the 
hare; she must run for herself, or the greyhounds will have her. 
Every man must carry his own sack to the mill. You must put 
your own shoulder to the wheel and keep it there, for there 's 
plenty of ruts in the road. If you wait till all the ways are paved, 
you will have light shining between your ribs. If you sit still till 



422 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

great men take you on their backs, you will grow to your seat. 
Your own legs are better than stilts : don't look to others, but trust 
in God and keep your powder dry. 

Don't be whining about not having a fair start. Throw a sen- 
sible man out of a window, he '11 fall on his legs and ask the 
nearest way to his work. The more you have to begin with, the 
less you will have at the end. Money you earn yourself is much 
brighter and sweeter than any you get out of dead men's bags. 
A scant breakfast in the morning of life whets the appetite for a 
feast later in the day. He who has tasted a sour apple will have 
the more relish for a sweet one ; your present want will make 
future prosperity all the sweeter. Eighteenpence has set up many 
a pedler in business, and he has turned it over till he has kept his 
carriage. 

As for the place you are cast in, don't find fault with that. You 
need not be a horse because you were born in a stable. If a bull 
tossed a man of mettle sky-high, he would drop down into a good 
place. A hard-working young man with his wits about him will 
make money while others do nothing but lose it. 

Who loves his work and knows to spare 
May live and flourish anywhere. 

As to a little trouble, who expects to find cherries without stones, 
or roses without thorns? Who would win must learn to bear. 
Idleness lies in bed sick of the. mulligrubs where industry finds 
health and wealth. The dog in the kennel barks at the fleas ; the 
hunting dog does not even know they are there. Laziness waits 
till the river is dry, and never gets to market; '''Try" swims 
it and makes all the trade. " Can't do it," could n't eat the bread 
and butter which was cut for him, but Try made meat out of 
mushrooms. 

Everybody who does not get on lays it all on competition. 
When the wine was stolen they said it was the rats ; it 's very 
convenient to have a horse to put the saddle on. A mouse may 
find a hole, be the room ever so full of cats. Good workmen are 
always wanted. There 's a penny to be turned at the worst booth 
in the fair. No barber ever shaves so close but another barber 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND " PICTURES." 423 

will find something left. Nothing is so good but that it might be 
better; and he who sells the best wins the trade. We were all 
going to the workhouse because of the new machines, so the 
prophets down in the taproom were always telling us ; but, 
instead of it, all these threshing and reaping and hay-making 
machines have helped to make those men better off who had sense 
enough to work them. If a man has not a soul above clodhop- 
ping, he may expect to keep poor; but if he opens his sense- 
box, and picks up here a little and there a little, even Johnny Raw 
may yet improve. *' Times are bad," they say; yes, and if you go 
gaping about and send your wits wool-gathering, times always 
will be bad. 

Many don't get on, because they have not the pluck to begin 
in right earnest. The first pound laid by is the difficulty. The 
first blow is half the battle. Over with that beer-jug, up with the 
** Try " flag, then cut to your work, and away to the savings-bank 
with the savings, and you will be a man yet. Poor men will always 
be poor if they think they must be. But there 's a way up out of 
the lowest poverty if a man looks after it early, before he has a 
wife and half-a-dozen children ; after that he carries too much 
weight for racing, and most commonly he must be content if he 
finds bread for the hungry mouths and clothes for the little backs. 
Yet, I don't know, some hens scratch all the better for having a 
great swarm of chicks. To young men the road up the hill may 
be hard ; but at any rate it is open, and they who set stout heart 
against a stiff hill shall climb it yet. What was hard to bear will 
be sweet to remember. If young men would deny themselves, 
work hard, live hard, and save in their early days, they need not 
keep their noses to the grindstone all their lives, as many do. Let 
them be teetotalers for economy's sake ; water is the strongest 
drink; it drives mills. It's the drink of lions and horses, and 
Samson never drank anything else. The beer money would soon 
build a house. 

If you want to do good in the world, the little word " Try " 
comes in again. There are plenty of ways of serving God, and 
some that will fit you exactly, as a key fits a lock. Don't hold 
back because you cannot preach in St. Paul's ; be content to talk 



424 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

to one or two in a cottage ; very good wheat grows in little fields. 
You may cook in small pots as well as big ones. Little pigeons 
can carry great messages. Even a little dog can bark at a thief, 
and wake up the master and save the house. A spark is fire. A 
sentence, of truth has heaven in it. Do what you do right thor- 
oughly, pray over it heartily, and leave the result to God. 

Alas ! advice is thrown away on many, like good seed on a bare 
rock. Teach a cow for seven years, but she will never learn to 
sing the Old Hundredth. Of some it seems true that when they 
were born Solomon went by the door, but would not look in. 
Their coat-of-arms is a fool's cap on a donkey's head. They sleep 
when it is time to plough, and weep when harvest comes. They 
eat all the parsnips for supper, and wonder they have none left 
for breakfast. Our working people are shamefully unthrifty, and 
so old England swarms with poor. If what goes into the mash- 
tub went into the kneading-troughs, families would be better fed 
and better taught. If what is spent in waste were only saved 
against a rainy day, workhouses would never be built. 

Once let every man say " Try," 
Very few on straw would lie, 
Fewer still of want would die ; 
Pans would all have fish to fry ; 
Pigs would fill the poor man's sty ; 
Want would cease and need would fly ; 
Wives and children cease to cry; 
Poor-rates would not swell so high ; 
Things would n't go so much awry, — 
You 'd be glad, and so would I. 



BEWARE OF THE DOG! 

JOPIN Ploughman did not in his first book weary his friends by 
preaching ; but in this one he makes bold to try his hand at a ser- 
mon, and hopes he will be excused if it should prove to be only a 
ploughman's preachment. 

If this were a regular sermon, — preached from a pulpit, of 
course, — I should make it long and dismal, like a winter's night. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES.' 



425 



for fear people should call me eccentric. As it is only meant to 
be read at home, I will make it short, though it will not be sweet, 
for I have not a sweet subject. The text is one which has a great 
deal of meaning in it, and is to be read on many a wall. '* Beware 
of the Dog ! " You know what dogs are, and you know how you 
beware of them when a bull-dog flies at you to the full length of 
his chain ; so the words don't want any clearing up. 

It is very odd that the Bible never says a good word for dogs : 
I suppose the breed must have been bad in those eastern parts, 




or else, as our minister tells me, they were nearly wild, had no 
master in particular, and were left to prowl about half starved. 
No doubt a dog is very like a man, and becomes a sad dog when 
he has himself for a master. We are all the better for having 
somebody to look up to ; and those who say they care for nobody 
and nobody cares for them, are dogs of the worst breed, and, for a 
certain reason, are never likely to be drowned. 

Dear friends, I shall have heads and tails like other parsons, and 
I am sure I have a right to them, for they are found in the subjects 
before us. 



426 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Firstly, let us beware of a dirty dog, — or, as the grand old Book 
calls them, *' evil workers," — those who love filth and roll in it. 
Dirty dogs will spoil your clothes, and make you as foul as them- 
selves. A man is known by his company ; if you go with loose 
fellows your character will be tarred with the same brush as theirs. 
People can't be very nice in their distinctions ; if they see a bird 
always flying with the crows, and feeding and nesting with them, 
they call it a crow, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred they 
are right. If you are fond of the kennel, and like to run with the 
hounds, you will never make the world believe that you are a pet 
lamb. Besides, bad company does a man real harm, for, as the old 
proverb has it, if you lie down with dogs you will get up with fleas. 

You cannot keep too far off a man with the fever and a man of 
wicked life. If a lady in a fine dress sees a big dog come out 
of a horse-pond, and run about shaking himself dry, she is very 
particular to keep out of his way ; and from this we may learn a 
lesson, — when we see a man half gone in liquor, sprinkling his 
dirty talk all around him, our best place is half a mile off at the 
least. 

Secondly, beware of all snarling dogs. There are plenty of 
these about; they are generally very small creatures, but they 
more than make up for their size by their noise. They yap and 
snap without end. Dr. Watts said, — 

" Let dogs delight to bark and bite, 
For God has made them so." 

But I cannot make such an excuse for the two-legged dogs I am 
writing about, for their own vile tempers and the devil together 
have made them what they are. They find fault with anything 
and everything. When they dare they howl, and when they can- 
not do that they lie down and growl inwardly. Beware of these 
creatures ! Make no friends with an angry man ; as well make a 
bed of stinging-nettles or wear a viper for a necklace. Perhaps 
the fellow is just now very fond of you ; but beware of him, for he 
who barks at others to-day without a cause will one day howl at 
you for nothing. Don't offer him a kennel down your yard unless 
he will let you chain him up. When you see that a man has a 
bitter spirit, and gives nobody a good word, quietly walk away 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 427 

and keep out of his track if you can. Loaded guns and quick- 
tempered people are dangerous pieces of furniture ; they don't 
mean any hurt, but they are apt to go off and do mischief before 
you dream of it. Better go a mile out of your way than get into 
a fight; better sit down on a dozen tin-tacks with their points up 
than dispute with an angry neighbor. 

Thirdly, beware of fawning dogs. They jump up upon you and 
leave the marks of their dirty paws. How they will lick your 
hand and fondle you as long as there are bones to be got : like 
the lover who said to the cook, "Leave you, dear girl? Never, 
while you have a shilling ! " Too much sugar in the talk should 
lead us to suspect that there- is very little in the heart. The 
moment a man praises you to your face, mark him, for he is the 
very gentleman to rail at you behind your back. If a fellow takes 
the trouble, to flatter he expects to be paid for it, and he calculates 
that he will get his wages out of the soft brains of those he tickles. 
When people stoop down it generally is to pick something up, and 
men don't stoop to flatter you unless they reckon upon getting 
something out of you. When you see .too much politeness you 
may generally smell a rat if you give a good sniff. Young people 
need to be on the watch against crafty flatterers. Young women 
with pretty faces and a little money should especially beware of 
puppies ! 

Fourthly, beware of a greedy dog, or a man who never has 
enough. Grumbling is catching; one discontented man sets 
others complaining, and this is a bad state of mind to fall into. 
Folks who are greedy are not always honest, and if they see a 
chance they will put their spoon into their neighbor's porridge; 
why not into yours? See how cleverly they skin a flint; before 
long you will find them skinning you, and as you are not quite so 
used to it as the eels are, you had better give Mr. Skinner a wide 
berth. When a man boasts that he never gives anything away, 
you may read it as a caution, " Beware of the dog ! " A liberal, 
kind-hearted friend helps you to keep down your selfishness, but a 
greedy grasper tempts you to put an extra button on your pocket. 
Hungry dogs will wolf down any quantity of meat, and then look 
out for more ; and so will greedy men swallow farms and houses. 



428 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

and then smell around for something else. I am sick of the 
animals: I mean both the dogs and the men. Talking of nothing 
but gold, and how to make money and how to save it, — why, one 
had better live with the hounds at once, and howl over your share 
of dead horse. The mischief a miserly wretch may do to a man's 
heart no tongue can tell; one might as well be bitten by a mad 
dog, for greediness is as bad a madness as mortal can be tormented 
with. Keep out of the company of screw-drivers, tight-fists, hold- 
fasts, and blood-suckers : " Beware of dogs ! " 

Fifthly, beware of a yelping dog. Those who talk much tell a 
great many lies, and if you love truth you had better not love 
them. Those who talk much are likely enough to speak ill of 
their neighbors, and of yourself among the rest ; and therefore if 
you do not want to be town talk, you will be wise to find other 
friends. Mr. Prate-apace will weary you out one day, and you 
will be wise to break off his acquaintance before it is made. Do 
not lodge in Clack Street, nor next door to the Gossip's Head. A 
lion's jaw is nothing compared to a tale-bearer's. If you have a 
dog which is always barking, and should chance to lose him, don't 
spend a penny in advertising for him. Few are the blessings 
which are poured upon dogs which howl all night and wake up 
honest householders, but even these can be better put up with 
than those incessant chatterers who never let a man's character 
rest either day or night. 

Sixthly, bezvare of a dog that woi'vies the sheep. Such get into 
our churches, and cause a world of misery. Some have new 
doctrines as ^rotten as they are new; others have new plans, 
whims, and crotchets, and nothing will go right till these are 
tried ; and there is a third sort which are out of love with every- 
body and everything, and only come into the churches to see if 
they can make a row. Mark these, and keep clear of them. 
There are plenty of humble Christians who only want leave to be 
quiet and mind their own business, and these troublers are their 
plague. To hear the gospel and to be helped to do good is all 
that the most of our members want; but these worries come in 
with their " ologies " and puzzlements and hard speeches, and 
cause sorrow upon sorrow. A good shepherd will soon fetch 



''JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND *' PICTURES." 429 

these dogs a crack of the head ; but they will be at their work 
again if they see half a chance. What pleasure can they find in 
it? Surely they must have a touch of the wolf in their nature. 
At any rate, beware of the dogt 

Seventhly, beware of dogs who have returned to their vomit. An 
apostate. is like a leper. As a rule, none are more bitter enemies 
of the cross than those who once professed to be followers of Jesus. 
He who can turn away from Christ is not a fit companion for any 
honest man. There are many abroad now-a-days who have thrown 
off religion as easily as a ploughman puts off his jacket. It will 
be a terrible day for them when the heavens are on fire above 
them, and the world is ablaze under their feet. If a man calls 
himself my friend, and leaves the ways of God, then his way and 
mine are different ; he who is no friend to the good cause is no 
friend of mine. 

Lastly, finally, and to finish up, beware of a dog that has no 
master. If a fellow makes free with the Bible and the laws of his 
country and common decency, it is time to make free to tell him 
we had rather have his room than his company. A certain set of 
wonderfully wise men are talking very big things, and putting their 
smutty fingers upon everything which their fathers thought to be 
good and holy. Poor fools, they are not half as clever as they 
think they are. Like hogs in a flower-garden, they are for rooting 
up everything; and some people are so frightened that they stand 
as if they were struck, and hold up their hands in horror at the 
creatures. When the hogs have been in my master's garden, and 
I have had the big whip handy, I warrant you I have made a 
clearance, and I only wish I was a scholar, for I would lay about 
me among these free-thinking gentry, and make them squeal to a 
long-metre tune. As John Ploughman has other fish to fry and 
other tails to butter, he must leave these mischievous creatures, 
and finish his rough ramshackle sermon. 

*' Beware of the dog ! " Beware of all who will do you harm. 
Good company is to be had ; why seek bad? It is said of heaven, 
"without are dogs." Let us make friends of those who can go 
inside of heaven, for there we hope to go ourselves. We shall go 
to our own company when we die ; let it be such that we shall 
be glad to go to it. 



430 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



A BLACK HEN LAYS A WHITE EGG. 

The egg is white enough, though the hen is black as a coal. 
This is a very simple thing, but it has pleased the simple mind of 
John Ploughman, and made him cheer up when things have gone 
hard with him. Out of evil comes good, through the great good- 
ness of God. From threatening clouds we get refreshing showers ; 
in dark mines men find bright jewels; and so from our worst 




troubles come our best blessings. The bitter cold sweetens the 
ground, and the rough winds fasten the roots of the old oaks. 
God sends us letters of love in envelopes with black borders. 
Many a time have I plucked sweet fruit from bramble-bushes, and 
taken lovely roses from among prickly thorns. Trouble is to 
believing men and women like the sweetbrier in our hedges, and 
where it grows there is a delicious smell all around, if the dew do 
but fall upon it from above. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 43 1 

Cheer up, mates, all will come right in the end. The darkest 
night will turn to a fair morning in due time. Only let us trust in 
God, and keep our heads above the waves of fear. When our 
hearts are right with God everything is right. Let us look for 
the silver w^hich lines every cloud, and when we do not see it let 
us believe that it is there. We are all at school, and our great 
Teacher writes many a bright lesson on the blackboard of afflic- 
tion. Scant fare teaches us to live on heavenly bread, sickness 
bids us send off for the good Physician, loss of friends makes Jesus 
more precious, and even the sinking of our spirits brings us to live 
more entirely upon God. All things are working together for the 
good of those who love God, and even death itself will bring them 
their highest gain. Thus the black hen lays a white egg. 

*' Since all that I meet shall work for my good, 
The bitter is sweet, the medicine is food ; 
Though painful at present, 't will cease before long, 
And then, oh how pleasant the conqueror's song ! " 



HE HAS A HOLE UNDER HIS NOSE, AND HIS MONEY 
RUNS INTO IT. 

This is the man who is always dry, because he takes so much 
heavy wet. He is a loose fellow who is fond of getting tight. He 
is no sooner up than his nose is in the cup, and his money begins 
to run down the hole which is just under his nose. He is not a 
blacksmith, but he has a spark in his throat, and all the publican's 
barrels can't put it out. If a pot of beer is a yard of land, he must 
have swallowed more acres than a ploughman could get over for 
many a day, and still he goes on swallowing until he takes to wal- 
lowing. All goes down Gutter Lane. Like the snipe, he lives by 
suction. If you ask him how he is, he says he Avould be quite 
right if he could moisten his mouth. His purse is a bottle, his 
bank is the publican's till, and his casket is a cask : pewter is his 
precious metal, and his' pearP is a mixture of gin and beer. The 
dew of his youth comes from Ben Nevis, and the comfort of his 

1 Purl. 



432 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



soul is cordial gin. He is a walking barrel, a living drain-pipe, a 
moving swill-tub. They say " loath to drink and loath to leave 
off," but he never needs persuading to begin, and as to ending, — 
that is out of the question while he can borrow twopence. This is 
the gentleman who sings, — 

He that buys land buys many stones, 
He that buys meat buys many bones, 
He that buys eggs buys many shells, 
He that- buys good ale buys nothing else. 

The old Scotchman said, " Death and drink-draining are near 
neighbors," and he spoke the truth. They say that drunkenness 




makes some men fools, some beasts, and some devils ; but accord- 
ing to my mind it makes all men fools, whatever else it does. Yet 
when a man is as drunk as a rat he sets up to be a judge, and 
mocks at sober people. Certain neighbors of mine laugh at me 
for being a teetotaler, and I might well laugh at them for being 
drunk, only I feel more inclined to cry, that they should be such 
fools. Oh that we could get them sober, and then perhaps we 
might make men of them ! You cannot do much with these 
fellows, unless you can enlist them in the Coldstream Guards. 



"JOHN PLOUGHxMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 433 

He that any good would win, 
At his mouth must first begin. 

As long as drink drowns conscience and reason, you might as well 
talk to the hogs. The rascals will promise fair and take the pledge, 
and then take their coats to pledge to get more beer. We smile at 
a tipsy man, for he is a ridiculous creature ; but when we see how 
he is ruined, body and soul, it is no joking rriatter. How solemn 
is the truth that " No drunkard shall inherit eternal life." 

There 's nothing too bad for a man to say or do when he is half- 
seas over. It is a pity that any decent body should go near such 
a common sewer. If he does not fall into the worst of crimes it 
certainly is not his fault, for he has made himself ready for any- 
thing tke devil likes to put into his mind. He does least hurt 
when he begins to be top-heavy and to reel about: then he be- 
comes a blind man with good eyes in his head, and a cripple with 
legs on. He sees two moons and two doors to the public-house, 
and tries to find his way through both the doors at once. Over 
he goes, and there he must lie, unless somebody will wheel him 
home in a barrow or carry him to the police-station. 

Solomon says the glutton and the drunkard shall come to pov- 
erty ; and that the drinker does in no time. He gets more and 
more down at the heel, and as his nose gets redder and his body is 
more swollen, he gets to be more of a shack and more of a shark. 
His trade is gone, and his credit has run out, but he still manages 
to get his beer. He treats an old friend to a pot, and then finds 
that he has left his purse at home, and of course the old friend 
must pay the shot. He borrows till no one will lend him a groat, 
unless it is to get off lending him a shilling. Shame has long 
since left him, though all who know him are ashamed of him. His 
talk runs like the tap, and is full of stale dregs ; he is very kind 
over his beer, and swears he, loves you, and would hke to drink 
your health, and love you again. Poor sot ! much good will his 
blessing do to any one who gets it; his poor w^ife and family have 
had too much of it already, and quake at the very sound of his 
voice. 

Now, if we try to do anything to shut up a boozing-house, or 
shorten the hours for guzzling, we are called all sorts of bad 

28 



434 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

names, and the wind-up of it all is, '* W/mt ! rob a poor man of his 
beer?" The fact is that they rob the poor man by his beer. The 
ale-jug robs the cupboard and the table, starves the wife and strips 
the children ; it is a great thief, housebreaker, and heartbreaker ; 
and the best possible thing is to break it to pieces, or keep it on 
the shelf bottom upward. In a newspaper which was lent me the 
other day I saw some verses by John Barleycorn, jr., and as they 
tickled my fancy I copied them out, and here they are, — 

What ! rob a poor man of his beer, 

And give him good victuals instead ! 
Your heart 's very hard, sir, I fear, 

Or at least you are soft in the head. 

What ! rob a poor man of his mug, •^ 

And give him a house of his own, 
With kitchen and parlor so snug ! 

'T is enough to draw tears from a stone. 

What ! rob a poor man of his glass. 

And teach him to read and to write ! 
What ! save him from being an ass ! 

'T is nothing but malice and spite. 

What ! rob a poor man of his ale, 

And prevent him from beating his M^ife, — 

From being locked up in a jail. 
With penal employment for life ! 

Having given you a song, I now hand you a handbill to stick 
up in the *' Rose and Crown " window, if the landlord wants an 
advertisement. It was written many years ago, but it is quite as 
good as new. Any beer-seller may print it who thinks it likely to 



help his trade. 



DRUNKARDS, READ THIS ! 

♦ 

DRUNKENNESS 

EXPELS REASON, 

DISTEMPERS THE BODY, 

MINISHES STRENGTH, 

INFLAMES THE BLOOD; 

INTERNAL 

, EXTERNAL 
CAUSES < > WOUNDS ; 

ETERNAL 

INCURABLE 



JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 435 

IS 

A WITCH TO THE SENSES, 

A DEMON TO THE SOUL, 

A THIEF TO THE PURSE, 

A CiUIDE TO BEGGARY, LECHERY, AND VILLANY. 

IT IS 

THE wife's woe AND 

THE children's SORROW, 

MAKES A MAN 

WALLOW WORSE THAN A BEAST, AND 

ACT LIKE A FOOL. 



HE IS 

A SELF-MURDERER 

WHO DRINKS TO ANOTHER'S GOOD HEALTH, 

AND 

ROBS HIMSELF OF HIS OWN. 



HE HAS GOT THE FIDDLE, BUT NOT THE STICK. 

It often comes to pass that a man steps Into another's shoes, 
and yet cannot walk in them. A poor tool of a parson gets into 
a good man's pulpit, and takes the same texts, but the sermons are 
chalk, and not cheese. A half-baked young swell inherits his 
father's money, but not his generosity, his barns, but not his brains, 
his title, but not his sense, — he has the fiddle without the stick, and 
the more 's the pity. 

Some people imagine that they have only to get hold of the 

plough-handles, and they would soon beat John Ploughman. If 

they had his fiddle they are sure they could play on it. J. P. 

presents his compliments, and wishes he may be there when it 

is done. 

" That I fain would see. 
Quoth blind George of HoUowee." 

However, between you and me and the bedpost, there is one 
secret which John does not mind letting out. John's fiddle is poor 
enough, but the stick is a right good one, too good to be called a 
fiddlestick. Do you want to see the stick with which John plays 



43^ 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 




his fiddle? Here it is — Looking to God for help, John always 
tries to do his best, whatever he has to do, and he has found this 
to be the very best way to play all kinds of tunes. What httle 
music there is in John's poor old fiddle comes out of it in that way. 
Listen to a scrape or two, — 

If I were a cobbler, I 'd make it my pride 

The best of all cobblers to be ; 
If I were a tinker, no tinker beside 

Should mend an old kettle like me. 

And being a ploughman, I plough with the best, 

No furrow runs straighter than mine ; 
I waste not a moment, and stay not to rest. 

Though idlers to tempt me combine. 

Yet I wish not to boast, for trust I have none 

In aught I can do or can be ; 
I rest in my Saviour, and what He has done 

To ransom poor sinners like me. 



JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 437 



THOUGHTS ABOUT THOUGHT. 

This paper is very little of it to be set down to the account of 
John Ploughman, for our minister, as I may say, found the horses 
and held the plough-handles, and the ploughman only put in a 
smack of the whip every now and then, just to keep folks awake. 
" Two heads are better than one," said the woman when she took 
her dog with her to market ; begging his pardon, our minister is 
the woman, and the only sensible head in the whole affair. He is 
a man who is used to giving his people many things of a very dif- 
ferent sort from anything which a ploughman is likely to turn out 
of his wallet; but I have, at his request, dropped in a few homely 
proverbs into his thoughts, as he says, '* by way of salt; " which 
is his very kind way of putting it. I only hope I have not spoiled 
his writing with my rough expressions. If he thinks well of it, I 
should like a few more of his pieces to tack my sayings to ; and 
the public shall always be honestly told whether the remarks are to 
be considered as altogether ** John Ploughman's Talk," or as the 
writing of two characters rolled into one. 

There are not so man'y hours in a year as there may be thoughts 
in an hour. Thoughts fly in flocks, like starlings, and swarm like 
bees. Like the sere leaves in autumn, there is no counting them ; 
and like the links in a chain, one draws on another. What a rest- 
less being man is ! His thoughts dance up and down like midges 
in a summer's evening. Like a clock full of wheels with a pendu- 
lum in full swing, his mind moves as fast as time flies. This makes 
thinking such an important business. Many littles make a muckle ; 
and so many little thoughts make a great weight of sin. A grain 
of sand is light enough, but Solomon tells us that a heap of sand 
is heavy. Where there are so many children, the mother has need 
to look well after them. We ought to mind our thoughts, and if 
they turn to be our enemies, they will be too many for us, and will 
drag us down to ruin. Thoughts from heaven, like birds in spring, 
will fill our soul with music; but thoughts of evil will sting us like 
vipers. 



438 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

■ There is a notion abroad that thought is free ; but I remember 
reading, that ahhough thoughts are toll-free, they are not hell-free ; 
and that saying quite agrees with the good old Book. We cannot 
be summoned before an earthly court for thinking; but depend 
upon it we shall have to be tried for it at the Last Assizes. Evil 
thoughts are the marrow of sin ; the malt that sin is brewed from ; 
the tinder which catches the sparks of the devil's temptations ; the 
churn in which the milk of imagination is churned into purpose 
and plan; the nest in which all evil birds lay their eggs. Be 
certain, then, that as sure as fire burns brushwood as well as logs, 
God will punish thoughts of sin as well as deeds of sin. 

Let no one suppose that thoughts are not known to the Lord ; 
for He has a window into the closest closet of the soul, a window 
to which there are no shutters. As we watch bees in a glass hive, 
so does the eye of the Lord 'see us. The Bible says, *' Hell and 
destruction are before the Lord : how much more then the heart 
of the children of men?" Man is all outside to God. With 
heaven there are no secrets. That which is done in the private 
chamber of the heart is as public as the streets before the All- 
seeing eye. 

But some will say that they cannot help having bad thoughts; 
that may be, but the question is, Do they hate them or not? We 
cannot keep thieves from looking in at our windows, but if we 
open our doors to them and receive them joyfully, we are as bad 
as they. We cannot help the birds flying over our heads; but 
we may keep them from building their nests in our hair. Vain 
thoughts will knock at the door, but we must not open to them. 
Though sinful thoughts rise, they must not reign. He who turns 
a morsel over and over in his mouth, does so because he likes the 
flavor; and he who meditates upon evil, loves it, and is ripe to 
commit it.. Think of the devil, and he will appear; turn your 
thoughts toward sin, and your hand will soon follow. Snails leave 
their slime behind them, and so do vain thoughts. An arrow may 
fly through the air and leave no trace ; but an ill thought always 
leaves a trail like a serpent. Where there is much traffic of bad 
thinking, there will be much mire and dirt; every wave of wicked 
thought adds something to the corruption which rots upon the 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 439 

shore of life. It Is dreadful to think that a vile imagination once 
indulged gets the key of our minds, and can get in again very 
easily whether we will or no, and can so return as to bring seven 
other spirits with it more wicked than itself; and what may follow, 
no one knows. Nurse sin on the knees of thought, and it will 
grow into, a giant. Dip tow in naphtha, and how It will blaze when 
fire gets to it ! Lay a man asoak in depraved thought, and he 
is ready to flame up into open sin as soon as ever opportunity 
occurs. This shows us the wisdom of watching, every day, the 
thoughts and imaginations of our hearts. Good thoughts are 
blessed guests, and should be heartily welcomed, well fed, and 
much sought after. Like rose-leaves, they give out a sweet smell 
if laid up In the jar of memory. They cannot be too much culti- 
vated ; they are a crop which enriches the soil. As the hen 
broods her, chickens under her wings, so should we cherish all 
holy thoughts. As the poor man's ewe lamb ate of his own bread 
and lay in his bosom, even so should godly meditation be very 
dear to us. Holy thoughts breed holy words and holy actions, 
and are hopeful evidences of a renewed heart. Who would not 
have them? To keep chaff out of a bushel, one sure plan is to 
fill it full of wheat ; and to keep out vain thoughts, it is wise and 
prudent to have the mind stored with choice subjects for medita- 
tion : these are easy to find, and we should never be without them. 
May we all be able to say with David, " In the multitude of my 
thoughts within me. Thy comforts delight my soul." 



"GREAT CRY AND LITTLE WOOL," AS THE MAN SAID 
WHO CLIPPED THE SOW. 

Our friend Hodge does not seem to be making much of an out 
at shearing. It will take him all his time to get wool enough for 
a blanket, and his neighbors are telling him so : but he does not 
heed them, for a man never listens to reason when he has made 
up his mind to act unreasonably. Hodge gets plenty of music of 



440 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



a sort: Hullah's system is nothing to it, and even Nebuchad- 
nezzar's flutes, harps, sackbuts, and dulcimers could not make 
more din. He gets ** cry " enough to stock a Babylon of babies, 
but not wool enough to stop his ears with. 

Now is not this very like the world with its notions of pleasure? 
There is noise enough: laughter and shouting and boasting; but 
where is the comfort which can warm the heart and give peace to 
the spirit? Generally there's plenty of smoke and very little fire 
in what is called pleasure. It promises a nag and gives an egg. 




Gayety is a sort of flash in the pan, a fifth-of-November squib, all 
fizz and bang and done for. The devil's meal is all bran, and the 
world's wine turns to vinegar. It is always making a great noise 
over nutshells. Thousands have had to weep over their blunder 
in looking for their heaven on earth ; but they follow each other 
like sheep through a gap, not a bit the wiser for the experience of 
generations. It seems that every man must have a clip at his own 
particular pig, and cannot be made to believe that, like all the 
rest, it will yield him nothing but bristles. Men are not all of one 
mind as to what is best for them ; they no more agree than the 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK AND ** PICTURES. 44I 

clocks in our village, but they all hang together in following after 
vanity, for to the core of their hearts they are vain. 

One shears the publican's hog, which is so fond of the swill-tub, 
and he reckons upon bringing home a wonderful lot of wool ; but 
everybody knows that he who goes to the '* Woolpack " for wool 
will come home shorn; the ** Blue Boar" is an uncommonly ugly 
animal to shear, and so is the " Red Lion." Better sheer off as 
fast as you can ; it will be sheer folly to stop. You may loaf 
about the tap of the " Half-moon " till you get the full moon in 
your noddle, and need a keeper ; it is the place for men whose 
wits go wool-gathering, but wool there is none. 

Another is covetous, and hopes to escape misery by being a 
miser: his greedy mind can no more be filled than a lawyer's 
purse: he never has enough, and so he never has a feast. He 
makes money with his teeth, by keeping them idle. That is a 
very lean hog to clip at, for poverty wants some things, luxury 
many things, but covetousness wants all things. If we could hoard 
up all the money in the world, what would it be to us at last? To- 
day at good cheer, to-morrow on the bier : in the midst of life we 
are in death. 

Some, like old Mrs. Too-good, go in for self-righteousness, and 
their own mouths dub them saints. They are the pink of perfec- 
tion, the cream of creation, the gems of their generation, and yet 
a sensible man would not live in the same house with them for all 
the money you could count. They are saints abroad, but ask 
their maids what they are at home. Great cry and little wool is 
common enough in religion : you will find that those who crack 
themselves up are generally cracked, and those who despise their 
neighbors come to be despised themselves. 

Many try wickedness, and run into bad company, and rake the 
kennels of vice. I warrant you they may shear the whole sty-ful 
of filthy creatures and never find a morsel of wool on the whole 
lot of them. Loose characters, silly amusements, gambling, wan- 
tonness, and such like, are swine that none but a fool will try his 
shears upon. I don't deny that there 's plenty of swinish music, — 
who ever expected that there would be silence in a piggery? But 
then noise cannot fill the heart, nor laughter lighten the soul. 



442 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

John Ploughman has tried for himself, and he knows by experi- 
ence that all the world is nothing but a hog that is not worth the 
shearing: ''Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." But yet there is 
wool to be had; there are real joys to be got for the asking if we 
ask aright. Below, all things deceive us, but above us there is a 
true Friend. *' Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which 
is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not? " This 
is John Ploughman's verdict, which he wishes all his readers to 

take note of, — 

" Faith in Jesus Christ will give 
Sweetest pleasures while we live ; 
Faith in Jesus must supply 
Solid comfort when we die." 



YOU CANT CATCH THE WIND IN A NET. 

Some people get windmills in their heads and go in for all 
sorts of silly things. They talk of ruling the nation as if men 
were to be driven like sheep, and they prate of reforms and 
systems as if they could cut out a world in brown paper with a 
pair of scissors. Such a body thinks himself very deep, but he is 
as shallow as a milkpan. You can soon know him as well as if 
you had gone through him with a lighted candle, and yet you will 
not know a great deal after all. He has a great head, and very 
little in it. He can talk by the dozen or the gross, and say noth- 
ing. When he is fussing and boasting of his fine doings, you soon 
discover that he makes a long harvest of very little corn. His 
tongue is like a pig's tail, going all day long and nothing done. 

This is the man who can pay off the national debt, and yet,, in 
his little shop he sells two apples in three days ; he has the secret 
of high farming, and loses more at it than any man in the county. 
The more he studies the more he misses the mark; he reminds 
me of a blind man on a blind horse, who rode out in the middle 
of a dark night, and the more he tried to keep out of ditches the 
more he fell in. 

When they catch live red herrings on Newmarket Heath he will 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 443 

bring out a good thing, and line his pockets with gold ; up till 
now, he says, he has been unlucky, and he believes that if he were 
to make a man a coffin he would be sure not to die. He is going 
to be rich next year, and you will then see what you shall see : 
just now he would be glad of half a crown on account, for which 
he will give you a share in his invention for growing wheat without 
ploughing or sowing. 

It is odd to see this wise man at times when his wits are all 
up in the moon: he is just like Chang the Chinaman, who said, 
" Here 's my umbrella, and here 's my bundle; but wJiere am If 
He ca-nnot find his spectacles, though he is looking through them ; 
and when he is out riding on his own ass, he pulls up and says, 
" Wherever is that donkey? " 




I have heard of one learned man who boiled his watch and stood 
looking at the tgg, and another who forgot that he was to be 
married that day, and would have lost his lady if his friend had 
not fetched him out of his study. Think of that, my boy, and 
don't fret yourself because you are not so overdone with learning 
as to have forgotten your common sense. 



444 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The regular wind-catcher is soft as silk and as green as grass, 
and yet he thinks himself very long-headed ; and so indeed he 
would be if his ears were taken into the measurement. He is 
going to do — well — there 's no telling what. He is full of wishes 
but short of will, and so his buds never come to flowers or fruit. 
He is like a hen that lays eggs, and never sits on them long enough 
to hatch a single chick. 

Moonshine is the article our friend deals in, and it is wonderful 
what he can see by it. He cries up his schemes, and it is said 
that he draws on his imagination for his facts. When he is in full 
swing with one of his notions, he does not stick at a trifle. Will 
Shepherd heard one of these gentry the other day telling how his 
new company would lead all the shareholders on to Tom Tiddler's 
ground to pick up gold and silver ; and when all the talk was over, 
Will said to me, *' That 's a lie with a lid on, and a brass handle to 
take hold of it." Rather sharp this of Will, for I do believe the 
man was caught on his own hook and believed in his own dreams; 
yet I did not like him, for he wanted us poor fellows to put our 
little savings into his hands, as if we could afford to fly kites with 
laborers' wages. 

What a many good people there are who have religious crazes ! 
They do nothing, but they have wonderful plans for doing every- 
thing in a jiffy. So many thousand people are to give half a crown 
each, and so many more a crown, and so many more a sovereign, 
and the meeting-house is to be built just so, and nohow else. 
The mischief is that the thousands of people do not rush forward 
with their money, and the minister and a few hard-working friends 
have to get it together little by little in the old-fashioned style, 
while your wonderful schemer slinks out of the way and gives 
nothing. I have long ago found out that pretty things on paper 
had better be kept there. Our master's eldest son had a plan 
for growing plum-trees in our hedges as they do in Kent; but he 
never looked to see whether the soil would suit, and so he lost 
the trees which he put in, and there Vv^as an end of his damsons. 

" Circumstances alter cases ; 
Different ways suit different places." 



"JOHN ploughman's TALK" AND "PICTURES." 445 

New brooms sweep clean, but they mostly sweep up dirt. 
Plough with what you please, I stick to the old horses which have 
served me so well. Fine schemes come to nothing; it is hard 
work that does it, whether it be in the world or in the Church. 

" In the laborious husbandman you see 
• ' What all true Christians are or ought to be." 



ON THE PREACHER'S APPEARANCE. 

A GOOD horse cannot be a bad color, and a really good preacher 
can wear what he likes, and none will care much about it ; but 
though you cannot know wine by the barrel, a good appearance 
is a letter of recommendation even to a ploughman. Wise men 
neither fall into love nor take a dislike at first sight ; but still the 
first impression is always a great thing, even with them ; and as to 
those weaker brethren who are not wise, a good appearance is half 
the battle. What is a good appearance? Well, it's not being 
pompous and starchy, and making one's self high and mighty 
among the people, for proud looks lose hearts, and gentle words 
win them. It 's not wearing fine clothes either, for foppish dress 
usually means a foul house within, and the doorstep without fresh 
whitened : such dressing tells the world that the outside is the best 
part of the puppet. When a man is proud as a peacock, all 
strut and show, he needs converting himself before he sets up to 
preach to others. The preacher who measures himself by his 
looking-glass may please a few silly girls, but neither God nor 
man will, long put up with him. The man who owes his greatness 
to his tailor will find that needle and thread cannot long hold a fool 
in a pulpit. A gentleman should have more in his pocket than on 
his back, and a minister should have more in his inner man than on 
his outer man. I would say, if I might, to young ministers. Do 
not preach in gloves, for cats in mittens catch no mice ; don't curl 
and oil your hair like dandies, for nobody cares to hear a peacock's 
voice; don't have your own pretty self in your mind at all, or 



44^ LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

nobody else will mind you. Away with gold rings and chains and 
jewelry; why should the pulpit become a goldsmith's shop? For 
ever away with surplices and gowns, and all those nursery doll- 
dresses, — men should put away childish things. A cross on the 
back is the sign of a devil in the heart; those who do as Rome does, 
should go to Rome and show their colors. If priests suppose that 
they get the respect of honest men by their fine ornamental dresses, 
they are much mistaken, for it is commonly said, ''Fine feathers 
ne'er make fine birds," and 

" An ape is ne'er so like an ape 
As when he wears a Popish cape." 

Among us Dissenters the preacher claims no priestly power, and 
therefore should never wear a peculiar" dress ; let fools wear fools' 
caps and fools' dresses, but men who make no claim to be fools 
should not put on fools' clothes. None but a very silly sheep 
would wear wolf's clothing. It is a singular taste which makes 
honest men covet the rags of thieves. Besides, where 's the good 
of such finery? Except a duck in pattens, no creature looks more 
stupid than a Dissenting preacher in a gown which is of no man- 
ner of use to him. I could laugh till I held my sides, when I see 
our doctors in gowns and bands, puffed out with their silks, and 
touched up with their little bibs, for they put me so much in mind 
of our old turkey-cock when his temper is up and he swells to his 
biggest. They must be weak folks indeed who want a man to 
dress like a woman before they can enjoy his sermon ; and he who 
cannot preach without such milliner's trumpery may be a man 
among geese, but he is a goose among men. At the same time, 
the preacher should endeavor, according to his means, to dress 
himself respectably ; and as to neatness, he should be without spot, 
for kings should not have dirty footmen to wait at their table, and 
they who teach godliness should practise cleanliness. I should like 
white neckties better if they were always white, but dirty brown is 
neither here nor there. From a slovenly, smoking, snufif-taking, 
beer-drinking parson, may the Church be delivered ! Some that I 
meet with may, perhaps, have very good manners, but they did not 
happen to have them about them at the time: like the Dutch cap- 
tain with his anchors, they had left them at home. This should 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 447 

never be the case, for if there be a well-behaved man in the parish, 
it should be the minister. A worn coat is no discredit, but the 
poorest may be neat, and men should be scholars, rather than 
teachers, till they are so. You cannot judge a horse by his har- 
ness ; but a modest, gentlemanly appearance, in which the dress is 
just such as nobody could make a remark upon, seems to me to 
be the right sort of thing. This little bit of my mind is meant to 
warn you young striplings who have just started in the ministry, 
and if any of you get cross over it, I shall tell you that sore 
horses cannot bear to be combed, and again, "those whom the 
cap fits must wear it." John Ploughman, you will say, had better 
mend his own smock and let the parsons alone ; but I take leave 
to look about me and speak my mind, for a cat may look at a 
king, and a fool may give wise men good advice. If I speak too 
plainly, please remember that an old dog cannot alter his way of 
barking; and he who has long been used to plough a straight 
furrow is very apt to speak in the same straightforward manner. 



NEVER STOP THE PLOUGH TO CATCH A MOUSE. 

There's not much profit in this game. Think of a man and 
a boy and four horses all standing still for the sake of a mouse ! 
What would old friend Tusser say to that? I think he would 
rhyme in this fashion, — 

A ploughman deserveth a cut of the whip, 
If for idle pretence he let the hours slip. 

Heaps of people act like the man in our picture. They have a 
great work in hand which wants all their wits, and they leave it to 
squabble over some pretty nothing, not worth a fig. Old Master 
Tom would say to them, — 

No more tittle-tattle, go on with your cattle. 

He could not bear for a farmer to let his horses out for carting 
even, because it took their work away from the farm, and so I am 



448 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



sure he would be in a great stew if he saw farmers wasting their 
time at matches and hunts and the like. He says, — 

" Who slacketh his tillage a carter to be, 
For groat got abroad, at home shall lose three ; 
For sure by so doing he brings out of heart 
Both land for the corn and horse for the cart." 

The main chance must be minded, and the little things must be 
borne with. Nobody would burn his house down to kill the black- 
beetles, and it would never answer to kill the bullocks -to feed the 
cats. If our baker left off making bread for a week while he 
cracked the cockroaches, what should we all do for breakfast? 







m^-^64,yv 



If the butcher sold no more meat till he had killed all the blow- 
flies, we should be many a day without mutton. If the water com- 
panies never gave the Londoners a drink till they had fished every 
gudgeon out of the Thames, how would the old ladies make their 
tea? There 's no use in stopping your fishing because of the sea- 
weed, nor your riding because of the dust. 

Now, our minister said to me the other day: "John, if you were 
on the committees of some of our societies you would see this 
mouse-hunting done to perfection. Not only committees, but 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES. 449 

whole bodies of Christian people go mouse-hunting." "Well," said 
I, " minister, just write me a bit, and I will stick it in my book; it 
will be beef to my horse-radish." Here 's his writing: — 

" A society of good Christian people will split into pieces over 
a petty quarrel, or mere matter of opinion, while all around them 
the masses are perishing for want of the gospel. A miserable 
little mouse, which no cat would ever hunt, takes them off from 
their Lord's work. Again, intelligent men will spend months of 
time and heaps of money in inventing and publishing mere specu- 
lations, while the great field of the world hes unploughed. They 
seem to care nothing how many may perish so long as they can 
ride their hobbies. In other matters a little common sense . is 
allowed to rule, but in the weightiest matters foolishness is sadly 
conspicuous. As for you and me, John, let us kill a mouse when 
it nibbles our bread, but let us not spend our lives over it. What 
can be done by a mousetrap or a cat should not occupy all our 
thoughts. 

" The paltry trifles of this world are much of the same sort. 
Let us give our chief attention to the chief things, — the glory of 
God, the winning of souls for Jesus, and our own salvation. There 
are fools enough in the world, and there can be no need that 
Christian men should swell the number. Go on with your plough- 
ing, John, and I will go on with my preaching, and ' in due season 
we shall reap if we faint not.' " 



HOME. 



That word home always sounds like poetry to me. It rings like 
a peal of bells at a wedding, only more soft and sweet, and it 
chimes deeper into the ears of my heart. It does not matter 
whether it means thatched cottage or manor-house, home is home, 
be it ever so homely, and there 's no place on earth like it. Green 
grow the houseleek on the roof for ever, and let the moss flourish 
on the thatch. Sweetly the sparrows chirrup and the swallows 
twitter around the chosen spot which is my joy and rest. Every 

29 



450 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

bird loves its own nest; the owl thinks the old ruins the fairest 

spot under the moon, and the fox is of opinion that his hole in the 

hill is remarkably cosey. When my master's nag knows that his 

head is towards home he wants no whip, but thinks it best to put 

on all steam ; and I am always of the same mind, for the way 

home, to me, is the best bit of road in the country. I like to see 

the smoke out of my own chimney better than the fire on another 

man's hearth ; there 's something so beautiful in the way in which 

it curls up among the trees. Cold potatoes on my own table taste 

better than roast meat at my neighbor's, and the honeysuckle at 

my own door is the sweetest I ever smell. When you are out, 

friends do their best, but still it is not home. " Make yourself at 

home," they say, because everybody knows that to feel at home is 

to feel at ease. 

" East and west, 
Home is best." 

Why, at home you are at home, and what more do you want? 
Nobody grudges you, whatever your appetite maybe; and you 
don't get put into a damp bed. Safe in his own castle, like a king 
in his palace, a man feels himself somebody, and is not afraid of 
being thought proud for thinking so. Every cock may crow on 
his own dunghill ; and a dog is a lion when he is at home. A 
sweep is master inside his own door. No need to guard every 
word because some enemy is on the watch, no keeping the heart 
under lock and key; but as soon as the door is shut it is liberty 
hall, and none to peep and pry. There Is a glorious view from 
the top of Leith Hill, in our dear old Surrey, and Hindhead and 
Martha's Chapel and Boxhill are not to be sneezed at; but I could 
show you something which to my mind beats them all to nothing 
for real beauty, — I mean John Ploughman's cottage, with the kettle 
boiling on the hob, singing like an unfallen black angel, while the 
cat is lying asleep in front of the fire, and the wife in her chair 
mending stockings, and the children cutting about the room, as full 
of fun as young lambs. It is a singular fact, and perhaps some of 
you will doubt it — but that is your unbelieving nature — our little 
ones are real beauties, always a pound or two plumper than others 
of their age ; and yet it don't tire you half so much to nurse them 



*'JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 45 1 

as it does other people's babies. Why, bless you, my wife would 
knock up in half the time, if her neighbor had asked her to see to 
a strange youngster, but her own children don't seem to tire her at 
all. Now my belief is that it all comes of their having been born 
at home. Just so is it with everything else : our lane is the most 
beautiful for twenty miles round, because our home is in it ; and 
my garden is a perfect paradise, for no other particular reason 
than this very good one, that it belongs to the old house at home. 

I cannot make out why so many working men spend their even- 
ings at the public-house, when their own fireside would be so much 
better, and cheaper too. There they sit, hour after hour, boozing 
and talking nonsense, and forgetting the dear good souls at home, 
who are half starved, and weary with waiting for them. Their 
money goes into the publican's till, when it ought to make their 
wives and children comfortable ; as for the beer they get, it is just 
so much fools' milk to drown their wits in. Such fellows ought to 
be horsewhipped ; and those who encourage them and live on 
their spendings deserve to feel the butt end of the whip. Those 
beershops are the curse of this country; no good ever can come 
of them, and the evil they do no tongue can tell. The publics were 
bad enough, but the beershops are a pest: I wish the man who 
made the law to open them had to keep all the families that they 
have brought to ruin. Beershops are the enemies of home, and 
therefore the sooner their licenses are taken away, the better. Poor 
men don't need such places, nor rich men either; they are all 
worse and no better, like Tom Norton's wife. An'ything that hurts 
the home is a curse, and ought to be hunted down as gamekeepers 
do the vermin in the copses. 

Husbands should try to make home happy and holy. It is an 
ill bird that fouls its own nest, a bad man who makes his home 
wretched. Our house ought to be a little church, with hoHness to 
the Lord over the door; but it ought never to be a prison, where 
there is plenty of rule and order, but little love and no pleasure. 
Married life is not all sugar, but grace in the heart will keep away 
most of the sours. Godliness and love can make a man, like a bird 
in a hedge, sing among thorns and briers, and set others a-singing 
too. It should be the husband's pleasure to please his wife, and 



452 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the wife s care to care for her husband. He is kind to himself who 
is kind to his wife. I am afraid some men Hve by the rule of self, 
and when that is the case home happiness is a mere sham. When 
husbands and wives are well yoked; how light their load becomes ! 
It is not every couple that is a pair, and the more 's the pity. In 
a true home all the strife is which can do the most to make the 
family happy. A home should be a Bethel, not Babel. The 
husband should be the house-band, binding all together like a 
corner-stone, but not crushing everything like a millstone. Unkind 
and domineering husbands ought not to pretend to be Christians, 
for they act clean contrary to Christ's demands. Yet a home must 
be well ordered, or it will become a Bedlam, and be a scandal to 
the parish. If the father drops the reins, the family-coach will 
soon be in the ditch. A wise mixture of love and firmness will do 
it ; but neither harshness nor softness alone will keep home in 
happy order. Home is no home where the children are not in 
obedience : it is rather a pain than a pleasure to be in it. Happy 
is he who is happy in his children, and happy are the children who 
are happy in their father. All fathers are not wise. Some are 
like Eli, and spoil their children. Not to cross our children is the 
way to make a cross of them Those who never give their children 
the rod must not wonder if their children become a rod to them. 
Solomon says : '' Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest ; yea, 
he shall give delight to thy soul." I am not clear that anybody 
wiser than Solomon lives in our time, though some think they are. 
Young colts must be broken in, or they will make wild horses. 
Some fathers are all fire and fury, filled with passion at the smallest 
fault ; this is worse than the other, and makes home a little hell 
instead of a heaven. No wind makes the miller idle, but too much 
upsets the mill altogether. Men who strike in their anger generally 
miss their mark. When God helps us to hold the reins firmly, but 
not to hurt the horses' mt>uths, all goes well. When home is ruled 
according to God's Word, angels might be asked to stay a night 
with us, and they would not find themselves out of their element. 

Wives should feel that home is their place and their kingdom, 
the happiness of which depends mostly upon them. She is a 
wicked wife who drives her husband away by her long tongue. A 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 453 

man sai*d to his wife the other day, " Double up your whip. " He 
meant, keep your tongue quiet: it is wretched hving with such a 
whip ahvays lashing you. When God gave to men ten measures of 
speech, they say the women ran away with nine, and in some cases 
I am afraid the saying is true. A dirty, slatternly, gossiping wife 
is enough to drive her husband mad ; and if he goes to the public- 
house of an evening, she is the cause of it. It is doleful living 
where the wife, instead of reverencing her husband, is always 
wrangling and railing at him.' It must be a good thing when such 
women are hoarse, and it is a pity that they have not as many 
blisters on their tongues as they have teeth in their jaws. God 
save us all from wives who are angels in the streets, saints in the 
church, and devils at home ! I have never tasted of such bitter 
herbs, but I pity from my very heart those who have this diet 
every day of their lives. 

Show me a loving husband, a worthy wife, and good children, 
and no pair of horses that ever flew along the road could take me 
in a year where I could see a more pleasing sight. Home is the 
grandest of all institutions. Talk about parliament, give me a quiet 
little parlor. Boast about voting and the Reform Bill if you like, 
but I, go in for weeding the little garden and teaching the children 
their hymns. Franchise may be a very fine thing, but I should a 
good deal sooner get the freehold of my cottage, if I could find 
the money to buy it. Magna Charta I don't know much about; 
but if it means a quiet home for everybody, three cheers for it. 

I wish our governors would not break up so many poor men's 
homes by that abominably heartless Poor law. It is far more fit 
for a set of Red Indians than Englishmen. A Hampshire carter 
told me the other day that his wife and children were all in the 
union and his home broken up, because of the cruel working of 
the Poor law. He had eight little ones and his wife to keep on 
nine shillings a week, with rent to pay out of it; on this he could 
not keep body and soul together. Now if the parish had allowed 
him a mere trifle, a loaf or two and a couple of shillings a week, 
he would have jogged on ; but no, not a penny out of the house : 
they might all die of starvation unless they would all go into the 
workhouse. So, with many bitter tears and heartaches, the poor 



454 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

soul had to sell his few little bits of furniture, and he is now a 
houseless man, and yet he is a good, hard-working fellow, and 
served one master nearly twenty years. Such things are very com- 
mon, but they ought not to be. Why cannot the really deserving 
poor have a little help given them? Why must they be forced into 
the union house? Home is the pillar of the British Empire, and 
ought not to be knocked to pieces by these unchristian laws. I 
wish I was an orator and could talk politics : I would not care a 
rush for Whigs or Tories, but I would stand up like a lion for the 
poor man's home, which, let me tell the Lords and Commons, is 
as dear to him as their great palaces are to them, and sometimes 
dearer. 

If I had no home the world would be a big prison to me. ^ Eng- 
land for me a country, Surrey for a county, and for a village give 
me — no, I sha'n't tell you, or you will be hunting John Plough- 
man up. IVIany of my friends have emigrated, and are breaking 
up fresh soil in Australia and America. Though their stone has 
rolled, I hope they may gather moss, for when they were at home 
they were like the sitting hen which gets no barley. Really these 
hard times make a man think of his wings, but I am tied by the 
leg to my own home, and, please God, I hope to live and die 
among my own people. They may do things better in France 
and Germany, but old England for me, after all. 



DON'T CUT OFF YOUR NOSE TO SPITE YOUR FACE. 

Anger is a short madness. - The less we do when we go mad 
the better for everybody,, and the less we go mad the better for 
ourselves. He is far gone who hurts himself to wreak his vengeance 
on others. The old saying is : " Don't cut off your head because 
it aches ; " and another says : ** Set not your house on fire to spite 
the moon." If things go awry, it is a poor way of mending to 
make them worse, as the man did who took to drinking because 
he could not marry the girl he liked. He must be a fool who cuts 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES.' 



455 



off his nose to spite his face ; and yet this is what Dick did when 
he had vexed his old master, and because he was chid must needs 
give up his place, throw himself out of work, and starve his wife 
and family. Jane had been idle, and she knew it; but sooner than 
let her mistress speak to her, she gave warning, and lost as good 
a service as a maid could wish for. Old Griggs was wrong, and 
could not deny it; and yet because the parson's sermon fitted 
him rather close, he took the sulks, and vowed he would never hear 
the good man again. It was his own loss, but he would n't listen 
to reason, but was as wilful as a pig. 




Do nothing when you are out of temper, and then you will have 
the less to undo. Let a hasty man's passion be a warning to you : 
if he scalds you, take heed that you do not let your own pot boil 
over. Many a man has given himself a box on the ear in his blind 
rage ; ay, and ended his own life out of spite ! He who cannot 
curb his temper carries gunpowder in his bosom, and he is neither 
safe for himself nor his neighbors. When passion comes in at the 
door, what little sense there is indoors flies out at the window. By 
and by a hasty man cools and comes to himself, like MacGibbon's 
gruel when he put it out of the window ; but if his nose is off, in 



45^ LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the mean time, who is to put it on again? He will only be sorry 
once, and that will be all the rest of his life. Anger does a man 
more hurt than that which made him angry. It opens his mouth 
and shuts his eyes, and fires his heart and drowns his sense, and 
makes his wisdom folly. Old Tompkins told me that he was sorry 
that he lost his temper, and I could not help thinking that the 
pity was that he ever found it again, for it was like an old shoe 
with the sole gone and the upper leathers worn out, only fit for a 
dunghiU. A hot-tempered man would be all the better for a new 
heart and a right spirit. Anger is a fire which cooks no victuals 
and comforts no household : it cuts and curses and kills, and no 
one knows what it may lead to ; therefore, good reader, don't let 
it lodge in your bosom, and if it ever comes there, pass the vagrant 
on to the next parish. 

Gently, gently, little pot ; 
Why so hasty to be hot ? 
Over you will surely boil, 
And I know not what you '11 spoil. 

The old gent in our picture has a fine nose of his own, and 
though he will be a fool to cut it off, he would be wise to cut off 
the supplies which have made it such a size. That glass and jug 
on the table are the paint-pots that he colors his nose with, and 
everybody knows, whether he knows it or knows it not, that his 
nose is the outward and visible sign of a good deal of inward and 
spirituous drink, and the sooner he drops his drops the better. So 
here we will cut off, not our nose, but the present subject. 



LIKE GAT LIKE KIT. 

Most men are what their mothers made them. The father is 
away from home all day, and has not half the influence over the 
children that the mother has. The cow has most to do with the 
calf. If a ragged colt grows into a good horse, we know who it 
is that combed him. A' mother is therefore a very responsible 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 457 

woman, even though- she may be the poorest in the land, for the 
bad or the good of her boys and girls very much depends upon 
her. As is the gardener, such is the garden ; as is the wife, such 
is the family. Samuel's mother made him a little coat every year, 
but she had done a deal for him before that : Samuel would not 
have been Samuel if Hannah had not been Hannah. We shall 
never see a better set of men till the mothers are better. We must 
have Sarahs and Rebekahs before we shall see Isaacs and Jacobs. 




Grace does not run in the blood, but we generally find that the 
Timothies have mothers of a goodly sort. 

Little children give their mother the headache ; but if she lets 
them have their own way, when they grow up to be great children 
they will give her the heartache. Foolish fondness spoils many, 
and letting faults alone spoils more. Gardens that are never 
weeded will grow very little worth gathering; all watering and 
no hoeing will make a bad crop. A child may have too much 
of its mother's love, and in the long run it may turn out that it 
had too little. Soft-hearted mothers rear soft-hearted children ; 
they hurt them for life because they are afraid of hurting them 



458 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

when they are young. Coddle your children, and they will turn 
out noodles. You may sugar a child till everybody is sick of it. 
Boys' jackets need a little dusting every now and then, and girls' 
dresses are all the better for occasional trimming. Children with- 
out chastisement are fields without ploughing. The very best colts 
want breaking in. Not that we like severity; cruel mothers are 
not mothers, and those who are always flogging and fault-finding 
ought to be flogged themselves. There is reason in all things, as 
the madman said when he cut ofl" his nose. 

Good mothers are very dear to their children. There 's no 
mother in the world like our own mother. My friend Sanders, 
from Glasgow, says, " The mither's breath is aye sweet." Every 
woman is a handsome woman to her own son. That man is not 
worth hanging who does not love his mother. When good women 
lead their little ones to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus blesses not 
only the children, but their mothers as well. Happy are they 
among women who see their sons and their daughters walking in 
the truth. 

He who thinks it easy to bring up a family never had one of his 
own. A mother who trains her children aright had need be wiser 
than Solomon, for his son turned out a fool. Some children are 
perverse from their infancy : none are born perfect, but some have 
a double share of imperfections. Do what you will with some chil- 
dren, they don't improve. Wash a dog, comb a dog, still a dog is 
but a dog : trouble seems thrown away on some children. Such 
cases are meant to drive us to God, for He can turn blackamoors 
white, and cleanse out the leopard's spots. It is clear that what- 
ever faults our children have, we are their parents, and we cannot 
find fault with the stock they came of. Wild geese do not lay 
tame eggs. That which is born of a hen will be sure to scratch in 
the dust. The child of a cat will hunt after mice. Every creature 
follows its kind. If we are black, we cannot blame our offspring 
if they are dark too. Let us do our best with them, and pray the 
mighty Lord to put His hand to the work. Children of prayer will 
grow up to be children of praise ; mothers who have wept before 
God for their sons will one day sing a new song over them. Some 
colts often break the halter, and yet become quiet in harness. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES.'* 459 

God can make those new whom we cannot mend, therefore let 
mothers never despair of their children as long as they live. Are 
they away from you across the sea? Remember, the Lord is there 
as well as here. Prodigals may wander, but they are never out of 
sight of the Great Father, even though they may be " a great 
way off." 

Let mothers labor to make home the happiest place in the 
world. If they are always nagging and grumbling they will lose 
their hold of their children, and the boys will be tempted to spend 
their evenings away from home. Home is the best place for boys 
and men, and a good mother is the soul of home. The smile of a 
mother's face has enticed many into the right path, and the fear 
of bringing a tear into her eye has called off many a man from 
evil ways. The boy may have a heart of iron, but his mother can 
hold him like a magnet. The devil never reckons a man to be 
lost so long as he has a good mother alive. Oh, woman, great is 
thy power ! See to it that it be used for Him who thought of His 
mother even in the agonies of death. 



VERY IGNORANT PEOPLE. 

I HAVE heard tell of a man who did not know a great A from a 
bull's foot, and I know a good many who certainly could not tell 
what great A, or little A either, may mean ; but some of these 
people are not the most ignorant in the w^orld for all that. For 
instance, they know a cow's head from its tail, and one of the 
election gentlemen said lately that the candidate from London did 
not know that. They know that turnips don't grow on trees, and 
they can tell a mangel-wurzel from a beet-root, and a rabbit 
from a hare, and there are fine folk who play on pianos who could 
hardly know as much as that. If they cannot read they can 
plough and mow, and reap and sow, and bring up seven children 
on ten shillings a week, and yet pay their way; and there's a 
sight of people who are much too ignorant to do that. Igno- 
rance of spelling-books is very bad, but ignorance of hard work is 



46o ' LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

worse. Wisdom does not always speak Latin. People laugh at 
smock-frocks, and indeed they are about as ugly garments as could 
well be contrived ; but some who wear them are not half such fools 
as people take them for. If no ignorant people ate bread but 
those who wear hobnail shoes, corn would be a fine deal cheaper. 
Wisdom in a poor man is like a diamond set in lead, only judges 
can see its value. Wisdom walks often in patched shoes, and men 
admire her not ; but I say, never mind the coat, give me the man : 
nutshells are nothing, the kernel is everything. You need not 
go to Pirbright to find ignoramuses, there are heaps of them near 
St. Paul's. 

I would have everybody able to read and write and cipher; 
indeed, I don't think a man can know too much ; but, m^irk you, 
the knowing of these things is not education, and there are mil- 
lions of your reading and writing people who are as ignorant as 
neighbor Norton's calf, that did not know its own mother. This 
is as plain as the nose on your face, if you only think a little. To 
know how to read and write is like having tools to work with ; but 
if you don't use these tools, and your eyes and your ears too, you 
will be none the better off. Everybody should know what most 
concerns him and makes him most useful. It is little use for a 
horse to know how to fly, it will do well enough if it can trot. A 
man on a farm ought to learn all that belongs to farming, a black- 
smith, should study a horse's foot, a dairymaid should be well up 
in skimming the milk and making the butter, and a laborer's wife 
should be a good scholar in the sciences of boiling and baking, 
washing and mending; and John Ploughman ventures to say that 
those men and women who have not learned the duties of their 
callings are very ignorant people, even if they can tell the Greek 
name for a crocodile, or write an ode on a black-beetle. It is too 

often very true, — 

"Jack has been to school 
To learn to be a fool." 

When a man falls into the water, to know how to swim will be of 
more use to him than all his mathematics ; and yet how very few 
boys learn swimming. Girls are taught dancing and French, 
when stitching and English would be a hundred per cent more use 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES."- 46 1 

to them. When men have to earn their Hvlngs in these hard 
times, a good trade and industrious habits will serve their turn a 
world better than all the classics in Cambridge and Oxford ; but who 
now-a-days advocates practical training at our schools? School- 
masters would go into fits if they were asked to teach poor people's 
boys to hoe potatoes and plant cauliflowers. If you want a dog 
to be a pointer or a setter, you train him accordingly: why ever 
don't they do the same with men? It ought to be, " Every man 
for his business, and every man master of his business." Let Jack 
and Tom learn geography by all means, but don't forget to teach 
them how to black their own boots and put a button on to their 
own trousers ; and as for Jane and Sally, let them sing and play the 
music if they like, but not till they can darn a stocking and make 
a shirt. When they bring on the new act for general education, I 
hope they will put in a clause to teach children practical common- 
sense home duties, as well as the three R's and the folderols which 
I think they call " accomplishments." There 's poor Gent with six 
girls, and about fifty pounds a year to keep his family on, and yet 
not one of them can do a hand's turn, because their mother would 
go into fits lest Miss Sophia Elfrida should have chapped hands 
through washing the family linen, or lest Alexandra Theodora 
should spoil her complexion in picking a few gooseberries for a 
pudding. It 's enough to make a cat laugh to hear the poor things 
talk about fashion and etiquette, when they are not half so well off 
as the higgler's daughters down the lane, who earn their own living, 
and are laying money by against the time when some young farmer 
will pick them up. Trust me, he who marries these highty-tighty 
young ladies will have as bad a bargain as if he married a wax 
doll. How the fat would be in the fire if Mrs. Gent heard me say 
it! but I do say it for all that: she and the girls are ignorant, very 
ignorant, because they do not know what would be of most service 
to them. 

Every sprat now-a-days calls itself a herring; every donkey 
thinks itself fit to be one of the queen's horses ; every candle 
thinks itself the sun. But when a man with his best coat on, and 
a paper collar, a glass in his eye, a brass chain on his waistcoat, 
a cane in his hand, and emptiness in his head, fancies that people 



462 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

cannot see through his swaggers and brags, he must be ignorant^ 
very ignorant, for he does not know himself. Flats, dressed up to 
the top of the fashion, think themselves somebodies, but nobody 
else does. Dancing-masters and tailors may rig up a fop, but 
they cannot make a nothing into a man. You may color a mill- 
stone as much as you like, but you cannot improve it into a 
cheese. 

When, tradesmen put their earnings into companies and expect 
to see it again ; when they take shares in railways and look for 
dividends ; when they lend money at high interest and think to 
make their fortunes, they must be ignorant, very ignorant. As well 
hang a wooden kettle over the fire and get ready for tea, or sow 
beans in a river and look for a fine crop. 

When men believe in lawyers and money-lenders (whether Jews 
or Gentiles), and borrow money and speculate, and think them- 
selves lucky fellows, they are shamefully ignorant. The very 
gander on the common would not make such a stupid of him- 
self, for he knows when any one tries to pluck him, and won't 
lose his feathers and pride himself in the operation. 

The man who spends his money with the publican, and thinks 
that the landlord's bows and *' How do ye do, my good fellow?" 
mean true respect, is a perfect natural; for with them it is, — 

If you have money, take a seat ; 
If you have none, take to your feet. 

The fox admires the cheese, not the raven. The bait is not put 
into the trap to feed the mouse, but to catch him. We don't light 
a fire for the herring's comfort, but to roast him. Men do not 
keep pot-houses for the laborer's good ; if they do they certainly 
miss their aim. Why, then, should people drink *' for the good 
of the house"? If I spend money for the good of any house, let 
it be my own, and not the landlord's. , It 's a bad well into which 
you must put water ; and the beerhouse is a bad friend, because 
it takes your all, and leaves you nothing but heeltaps and head- 
aches. He who calls those his friends who let him sit and drink 
by the hour together is ignorant, very ignorant. Why, Red Lions 
and Tigers and Eagles and Vultures are all creatures of prey, and 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 463 

why do so many put themselves within the power of their jaws 
and talons? 

He who believes that either Whigs or Tories will let us off with 
light taxes, must have been born on the day after the last of 
March ; and he who imagines that parish boards and vestries will 
ever have either heads or bowels, must have been educated in an 
idiot asylum. He who believes in promises made at elections has 
long ears, and may try to eat thistles. Mr. Plausible has been 
round asking all the working men for their votes, and he will do 
all sorts of good things for them. Will he? Yes, the day after 
to-morrow, a little later than never. Poor men who expect the 
" friends of the working man " to do anything for them must be 
ignorant, very ignorant. When they get their seats, of course they 
cannot stand up for their principles, except when it is to their 
interest to do so. 

To lend umbrellas and look to have them sent home, to do a 
man a good turn and expect another from him when you want it, 
to hope to stop some women's tongues, to try to . please every- 
body^ to hope to hear gossips speak well of you, or to get the 
truth of a story from common report, — is all evidence of great 
ignorance. Those who know the world best trust it least; those 
who trust it at all are not wise ; as well trust a horse's heel or a 
dog's tooth. Trusting to others ruins many. He who leaves his 
business to bailiffs and servants, and believes that it will be well 
done, must be ignorant, very ignorant. The mouse knows when 
the cat is out of the house, and servants know when the master 
is away. No sooner is the eye of the master gone than the hand 
of the workman slackens. " I '11 go myself," and " I '11 see to it," are 
two good servants on a farm. Those who lie in bed and reckon 
that their trade will carry on itself are ignorant^ very ignorant. 

Such as drink and live riotously, and wonder why their faces are 
so blotchy and their pockets so bare, would leave off wondering 
if they had two grains of wisdom. They might as well ask an 
elm-tree for pears as look to loose habits for health and wealth. 
Those who go to the public-house for happiness climb a tree to 
find fish. We might put all their wit in an eggshell, or they 
would never be such dupes as to hunt after comfort where it is 



464 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

no more to be found than a cow in a crow's nest ; but, alas ! good- 
for-nothings are common as mice in a wheat-rick. I only wish we 
could pack them off to Lubberland, where they have half a crown 
a day for sleeping. If some one could let them see the sure result 
of ill living, perhaps they might reform ; and yet I don't know, 
for they do see it, and yet go on all the same, like a moth that 
gets singed and flies into„the candle again. Certainly, for loiter- 
ing lushingtons to expect to thrive by keeping their hands in their 
pockets, or their noses in a pewter pot, proves them to be ignoranty 
very igttorant. 

When I see a young lady with a flower garden on her head 
and a draper's shop on her body, tossing her head about as if she 
thought everybody was charmed with her, I am sure she must 
be ignorant, very ignorant. Sensible men don't marry a wardrobe 
or a bonnet-box; they want a woman of sense, and these dress 
sensibly. 

To my mind, those who sneer at religion and set themselves 
up to be too knowing to believe in the Bible are shallow fellows. 
They generally use big words and bluster a great deal; but if 
they fancy they can overturn the faith of thinkirvg people, who 
have tried and proved the power of the grace of God, they must 
be ignorant, very ignorant. He who looks at the sunrise and the 
sunset, and does not see the footprints of God, must be inwardly 
blinder than a mole, and only fit to live under ground. God seems 
to talk to me in every primrose and daisy, to smile upon me from 
every star, to whisper to me in every breath of morning air, and 
call aloud to me in every storm. They say that man is the god of 
the dog : that man must be worse than a dog who will not listen to 
the voice of God, for a dog follows at his master's whistle. They 
call themselves philosophers, don't they? Their proper name is 
fools, for the fool hath said in his heart, " There is no God." The 
sheep know when rain is coming, the swallows foresee the winter, 
and even the pigs, they say, can see the wind ; how much worse 
than a brute must he be who lives where God is everywhere pres- 
ent, and yet sees Him not ! So you see a man may be a great 
hand at learning, and yet be igjwrant, very ignorant. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND '^PICTURES. 



465 



HE LOOKS ONE WAY AND PULLS THE OTHER. 

He faces the shore, but he is pulling for the ship : this is the 
way of those who row in boats, and also of a great many who 
never trust themselves on the water. The boatman is all right, 
but the hypocrite is all wrong, whatever rites he may practise. 
I cannot endure Mr. Facing-both-ways, yet he has swarms of 
cousins. 

It is ill to be a saint without and a devil within, to be a ser- 
vant of Christ before the world in order to serve the ends of self 




and the devil, while inwardly the heart hates all good things. 
There are good and bad of all classes, and hypocrites can be found 
among ploughmen as well as among parsons. It used to be so in 
the olden times, for I remember an old verse which draws out just 
such a character : the man says, — 

30 



466 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

" I '11 have a religion all of my own, 
Whether Papist or Protestant shall not be known ; 
And if it proves troublesome I will have none." 

In our Lord's day many followed Him, but it was only for the 
loaves and fishes : they do say that some in our parish don't go 
quite so straight as the Jews did, for they go to the church for 
the loaves, and then go over to the Baptist chapel for the fishes. 
I don't want to judge, but I certainly do know some who, if they 
do not care much for faith, are always following after charity. 

Better die than sell your soul to the highest bidder. Better be 
shut up in the workhouse than fatten upon hypocrisy. Whatever 
else we barter, let us never try to turn a penny by religion, for 
hypocrisy is the meanest vice a man can come to. 

It is a base thing to call yourself Christ's horse, and yet* carry 
the devil's saddle. The worst kind of wolf is that which wears a 
sheep's skin. Jezebel was never so ugly as when she had finished 
painting her face. Above all things, then, brother laborers, let us 
be straight as an arrow and true as a die, and never let us be time- 
servers or turncoats. Never let us carry two faces under one hat, 
nor blow hot and cold with the same breath. 



DEBT. 



When I was a very small boy, in pinafores, and went to a 
woman's school, it so happened that I wanted a stick of slate-pen- 
cil, and had no money to buy it with. I was afraid of being scolded 
for losing my pencils so often, for I was a real careless little fellow, 
and so did not dare to ask at home ; what then was John to do ? 
There was a little shop in the place, where nuts and tops and 
cakes and balls were sold by old Mrs. Dearson, and sometimes I 
had seen boys and girls get trusted by the old lady. I argued with 
myself that Christmas was coming, and that somebody or other 
would be sure to give me a penny then, and perhaps even a whole 
silver sixpence. I would therefore go into debt for a stick of 



''JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 467 

slate-pencil, and be sure to pay at Christmas. I did not feel easy 
about it, but still I screwed my courage up, and went into the shop. 
One farthing was the amount, and as I had never owed anything 
before, and my credit was good, the pencil was handed over by 
the kind dame, and / was in debt. It did not please me much, and 
I felt as if I had done wrong, but I little knew how soon I should 
smart for it. How my father came to hear of this little stroke of ^ 
business I never knew, but some Httle bird or other whistled it to 
him, and he was very soon down upon me in right earnest. God 
bless him for it ! He was a sensible man, and none of your 
children-spoilers ; he did not intend to bring up his children to 
speculate and play at what big rogues call financing, and there- 
fore he knocked my getting into debt on the head at once, and 
no mistake. He gave me a very powerful lecture upon getting 
into debt, and how like it was to stealing, and upon the way in 
which people were ruined by it ; and how a boy who would owe 
a farthing might one day owe a hundred pounds, and get into 
prison and bring his family into disgrace. It was a lecture in- 
deed; I think I can hear it now, and can" feel my ears tingling at 
the recollection of it. Then I was marched off to the shop like a 
deserter marched into barracks, crying bitterly all down the street, 
and feeling dreadfully ashamed, because I thought everybody knew 
I was in debt. The farthing was paid amid many solemn warn- 
ings, and the poor debtor was set free, like a bird let out of a cage. 
How sweet it felt to be out of debt ! How did my little heart vow 
and declare that nothing should ever tempt me into debt again ! 
It was a fine lesson, and I have never forgotten it. If all boys 
were inoculated with the same doctrine when they were young, 
it would be as good as a fortune to them, and save them wagon- 
loads of trouble in after life. God bless my father, say I, and 
send a breed of such fathers into old England to save her from be- 
ing eaten up with villany; for what with companies and schemes 
and paper money, the nation is getting to be as rotten as touch- 
wood. 

Ever since that early sickening I have hated debt as Luther 
hated the Pope, and if I say som^ fierce things about it, you must 
not wonder. To keep debt, dirt, and the devil out of my cottage 



468 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

has been my greatest wish ever since I set up housekeeping ; and 
although the last of the three has sometimes got in by the door or 
the window, for the old serpent will wriggle through the smallest 
crack, yet thanks to a good wife, hard work, honesty, and scrub- 
bing-brushes, the two others have not crossed the threshold. Debt 
is so degrading, that if I owed a man a penny I would walk twenty 
miles, in the depth of winter, to pay him, sooner than feel that I 
was under an obligation. I should be as comfortable with peas in 
my shoes, or a hedgehog in my bed, or a snake up my back, as 
with bills hanging over my head at the grocer's and the baker's 
and the tailor's. Poverty is hard, but debt is horrible; a man 
might as well have a smoky house and a scolding wife, which are 
said to be the two worst evils of our life. We may be poor, and 
yet respectable, which John Ploughman and wife hope they are 
and will be ; but a man in debt cannot even respect himself, and 
he is sure to be talked about by the neighbors, and that talk 
w^ill not be much to his credit. Some persons appear to like to be 
owing money ; but I would as soon be a cat up a chimney with 
the fire alight, or a fox with the hounds at my heels, or a hedge- 
hog on a pitchfork, or a mouse under an owl's claw. An honest 
man thinks a purse full of other people's money to be worse than 
an empty one ; he cannot bear to eat other people's cheese, wear 
other people's shirts, and walk about in other people's shoes, 
neither will he be easy while his Avife is decked out in the milli- 
ner's bonnets and wears the draper's flannels. The jackdaw in the 
peacock's feathers was soon plucked, and borrowers will surely 
come to poverty, — a poverty of the bitterest sort, because there is 
shame in it. 

Living beyond their incomes is the ruin of many of my neigh- 
bors ; they can hardly afford to keep a rabbit, and must needs drive 
a pony and chaise. I am afraid extravagance is the common 
disease of the times, and many professing Christians have caught 
it, to their shame and sorrow. Good cotton or stuff gowns are not 
good enough now-a-days ; girls must have silks and satins, and 
then there 's a bill at the dressmaker's as long as a winter's night, 
and quite as dismal. Show and style and smartness run away 
with a man's means, keep the family poor, and the father's nose 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK-" AND "PICTURES.'* 469 

down on the grindstone. Frogs try to look as big as bulls, and 
burst themselves. A pound a week apes five hundred a year, and 
comes to the county court. Men burn the candle at both ends, 
and then say they are very unfortunate; why don't they put the 
saddle on the right horse, and say they are extravagant? Economy 
is half the battle in life ; it is not so hard to earn money as to 
spend it well. Hundreds would never have known zvaiit if they 
had not first known waste. If all poor men's wives knew how to 
cook, how far a little might go ! Our minister says the French and 
the Germans beat us hollow in nice cheap cookery. I wish they 
would send missionaries over to convert our gossiping women 
into good managers ; this is a French fashion which would be a 
deal more useful than those fine pictures in Mrs. Frippery's win- 
dow, with ladies rigged out in a new style every month. Dear 
me ! some people are much too fine now-a-days to eat what their 
fathers were thankful to see on the table, and so they please their 
palates with costly feeding, come to the workhouse, and expect 
everybody to pity them. They turned up their noses at bread 
and butter, and came to eat raw turnips stolen out of the fields. 
They who live like fighting-cocks at other men's costs, will get 
their combs cut, or perhaps get roasted for it one of these days. 
If you have a great store of peas, you may put the more in the 
soup ; but everybody should fare according to his earnings. He 
is both a fool and a knave who has a shilling coming in, and on 
the strength of it spends a pound which does not belong to him. 
Cut your coat according to your cloth is sound advice ; but cutting 
other people's cloth by running into debt is as like thieving as 
fourpence is like a groat. If I meant to be a rogue I would deal 
in marine stores, or be a pettifogging lawyer, or a priest, or open 
a loan of^xce, or go out picking pockets, but I would scorn the 
dirty art of getting into debt without a prospect of being able 
to pay. 

Debtors can hardly help being liars, for they promise to pay 
when they know they cannot, and when they have made up a lot 
of false excuses they promise again, and so they lie as fast as a 

horse can trot. 

''You have debts, and make debts still, 
If you 've not lied, lie you will." 



470 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Now if owing leads to lying, who shall say that it Is not a most 
evil thing? Of course there are exceptions, and I do not want to 
bear hard upon an honest man who is brought down by sickness 
or heavy losses ; but take the rule as a rule, and you will find debt 
to be a great dismal swamp, a huge mud-hole, a dirty ditch. 
Happy is the man who gets out of it after once tumbling in, but 
happiest of all is he who has been by God's goodness kept out of 
the mire altogether. If you once ask the devil to dinner it will be 
hard to get him out of the house again : better to have nothing 
to do with him. Where a hen has laid one Gggy she is very likely 
to lay another ; when a man is once in debt, he is likely to get 
into it again ; better kefep clear of it from the first. He who gets 
in for a penny will soon be in for a pound, and when a man is over 
shoes, he is very liable to be over boots. Never owe a farthing, 
and you will never owe a guinea. 

If you want to sleep soundly, buy a bed of a man who is in 
debt ; surely it must be a very soft one, or he never could have 
rested so easy on it. I suppose people get hardened to it, as 
Smith's donkey did when its master broke so many sticks across 
its back. It seems to me that a real honest man would sooner get 
as lean as a greyhound than feast on borrowed money, and would 
choke up his throat with March dust before he would let the land- 
lord make chalks against him behind the door for a beer-score. 
What pins and needles tradesmen's bills must stick in a fellow's 
soul ! A pig on credit always grunts. Without debt, without 
care; out of debt, out of danger: but owing and borrowing are 
bramble-bushes full of thorns. If ever I borrow a spade of my 
next-door neighbor I never feel safe with it for fear I should break 
it; I never can dig in peace as I do with my own: but if I had a 
spade ,at the shop and knew I could not pay for it, I think I should 
set to dig my own grave out of shame. Scripture says, " Owe no 
man anything," which does not mean pay your debts, but never 
have any to pay ; and my opinion is, that those who wilfully break 
this law ought to be turned out of the Christian Church, neck and 
crop, as we say. Our laws are shamefully full of encouragement ' 
to credit; nobody need be a thief now; he has only to open a 
shop and make a fail of it, and it will pay him much better ; as the 



•'JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 47 1 

proverb is, ** He who never fails will never grow rich." Why, I 
know tradesmen who have failed five or six times, and yet think 
they are on the road to heaven. The scoundrels, what would they 
do if they got there? They are a deal more Hkely to go where 
they shall never come out till they have paid the uttermost far- 
thing. But people say, " How liberal they are ! " Yes, with other 
people's money. I hate to see a man steal a goose, and then give 
religion the giblets. Piety by all means, but pay your way as part 
of it. Honesty first, and then generosity. But how often religion 
is a cloak for deceiving ! There 's Mrs. Scamp as fine as a peacock, 
all the girls out at boarding-school, learning French and the piano, 
the boys swelling about in kid gloves, and G. B. Scamp, Esq., 
driving a fast-trotting mare, and taking the chair at public meet- 
ings, while his poor creditors cannot get more than enough to live 
from hand to mouth. It is shameful and beyond endurance to see 
how genteel swindling is winked at by many in this country. I 'd 
off with their white Waistcoats and kid gloves and patent-leather 
boots, if I had my way, and give them the county crop and the 
prison livery for six months. Gentlemen or not, I 'd let them see 
that big rogues could dance on the treadmill to the same tune as 
httle ones ; I 'd make the land too hot to hold such scamping 
gentry if I were a member of Parliament or a prime minister. As 
I 've no such power, I can at least write against the fellows, and 
let off the steam of my wrath in that way. 

My motto is : Pay as you go, and keep from small scores. 
Short reckonings are soon cleared. Pay what you owe, and what 
you 're worth you '11 know. Let the clock tick, but no ''tick'' for 
me. Better go to bed without your supper than get up in debt. 
Sins and debt are always more than we think them to be. Little 
by little a man gets over his head and ears. It is the petty ex- 
penses that empty the purse. Money is round, and rolls away 
easily. Tom Thriftless buys what he does not want because it is 
a great bargain, and so is soon brought to sell what he does want, 
and finds it a very little bargain ; he cannot say " No " to his friend 
who wants him to be security. He gives grand dinners, makes 
many holidays, keeps a fat table, lets his wife dress fine, never 
looks after his servants, and by and by he is quite surprised to 



472 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. . 

find the quarter-days come round so very fast, and that his cred- 
itors bark so loud. He has sowed his money in the field of 
thoughtlessness, and now he wonders that he has to reap the 
harvest of poverty. Still he hopes for something to turn up to 
help him out of difficulty, and so muddles himself into more 
trouble, forgetting that hope and expectations are fools' income. 
Being hard up, he goes to market with empty pockets, and buys 
at whatever prices tradesmen like to charge him, and so he pays 
them double, and gets deeper and deeper into the mire. This 
leads him to scheming, and trying little tricks and mean dodges, 
for it is hard for an empty sack to stand upright. This is sure not 
to answer, for schemes are like spiders' webs, which never catch 
anything better than flies, and are soon swept away. As. well 
attempt to mend your shoes with brown paper, or stop a broken 
window with a sheet of ice, as try to patch up falling business 
with manoeuvring and scheming. When the schemer is found out, 
he is like a dog in church, whom everybody kicks at, and hke a 
barrel of powder, which nobody wants for a neighbor. 

They say poverty is a sixth sense, and it had need be, for many 
debtors seem to have lost the other five, or were born without 
common sense, for they appear to fancy that you not only make 
debts, but pay them by borrowing. A man pays Peter with what 
he has borrowed of Paul, and thinks he is getting out of his diffi- 
culties, when he is putting one foot in the mud to pull his other 
foot out. It is hard to shave an egg, or pull hairs out of a bald 
pate ; but they are both easier than paying debts out of an empty 
pocket. Samson was a strong man, but he could not pay debts 
without money, and he is a fool who thinks he can do it by schem- 
ing. As to borrowing money of loan societies, it's like a drowning 
man catching at razors ; both Jews and Gentiles, when they lend 
money, generally pluck the geese as long as they have any feath- 
ers. A man must cut down his outgoings and save his incomings 
if he wants to clear himself; you can't spend your penny and pay 
debts with it too. Stint the kitchen if the purse is bare. Don't 
believe in any way of wiping out debts except by paying hard 
cash. Promises make debts, and debts make promises, but prom- 
ises never pays debts ; promising is one thing, and performing is 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND "PICTURES." 473 

quite another. A good man's word should be as binding as an 
oath, and he should never promise to pay unless he has clear pros- 
pect of doing so in due time; those who stave off payment by 
false promises deserve no mercy. It is all very well to say, " I 'm 

very sorry," but 

" A hundred years of regret 
Pay not a farthing of debt." 

Now I 'm afraid all this sound advice might as well have been 
given to my master's cocks and hens as to those who have got 
in the way of spending what is not their own, for advice to such 
people goes in at one ear and out at the other. Well, those who 
won't listen will have to feel, and those who refuse cheap advice 
will have to buy dear repentance ; but to young people beginning 
life, a word may be worth a world, and this shall be John Plough- 
man's short sermon, with three heads to it, — always live a little 
below your means, never get into debt, and remember 

" He who goes a borrowing 
Goes a sorrowing." 



A MAN IN A PASSION RIDES A HORSE THAT RUNS AWAY 

WITH HIM. 

When passion has run away with a man, who knows where it 
•will carry him? Once let a rider lose power over his horse, and 
he may go over hedge and ditch, and end with a tumble into the 
stone-quarry and a broken neck. No one can tell in cold blood 
what he may do when he gets angry ; therefore it is best to run 
no risks. Those who feel their temper rising will be wise if they 
rise themselves and walk off to the pump. Let them fill their 
mouths with cold water, hold it there ten minutes at the least, 
and then go indoors and keep there till they feel cool as a cu- 
cumber. If you carry loose gunpowder in your pocket, you had 
better not go where sparks are flying; and if you are bothered 
with an irritable nature, you should move off when folks begin 



474 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



teasing you. Better keep out of a quarrel than fight your way 
through it. 

Nothing is improved by anger, unless it be the arch of a cat's 
back. A man with his back up is spoiling his figure. People look 
none the handsomer for being red in the face. It takes a great 
deal out of a man to get into a towering rage; it is almost as 
unhealthy as having a fit, and time has been when men have actu- 
ally choked themselves with passion, and died on the spot. What- 
ever wrong I suffer, it cannot do me half so much hurt as being 
angry about it ; for passion shortens life and poisons peace. 

When once we give way to temper, temper will claim a right of 
way, and come in easier every time. He that will be in a pet for 




any little thing, will soon be out at elbows about nothing at all. A 
thunder-storm curdles the milk, and so does a passion sour the 
heart and spoil the character. 

He who is in a tantrum shuts his eyes and opens his mouth, and 
very soon says what he will be sorry for. Better bite your lips 
now than smart for life. It is easier to keep a bull out of a china 
shop than it is to get him out again ; and, besides, there 's no 
end of a bill to pay for damages. 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK*' AND "PICTURES." 475 

A man burning with anger carries a murderer inside his waist- 
coat; the sooner he can cool down, the better for himself and all 
around him. He will have to give an account for his feelings, as 
well as for his words and actions, and that account will cost him 
many tears. It is a cruel thing to tease quick-tempered people, 
for, though it may be sport to you, it is death to them ; at least, 
it is death to their peace, and may be something worse. We know 
who said, " Woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." 

Shun a furious man as you would a mad dog; but do it kindly, 
or you may make him worse than he would be. Don't put a man 
out when you know he is out with himself. When his monkey is 
up be very careful, for he means mischief. A surly soul is sure to 
quarrel ; he says the cat will break his heart, and the coal-scuttle 
will be the death of him. 

" A man in a rage 
Needs a great iron cage ; 
He '11 tear and he '11 dash 
Till he comes to a smash ; 
So let 's out of his way 
As quick as we may." 

As we quietly move off, let us pray for the angry person; for a 
man in a thorough passion is as sad a sight as to see a neighbor's 
house on fire, and no water handy to put out the flames. 

Let us wish the fellow on the runaway horse a soft ditch to 
tumble in, and sense enough never to get on the creature's back 
again. 



EVERY BIRD LIKES ITS OWN NEST. 

It pleases me to see how fond the birds are of their little homes. 
No doubt each one thinks his own nest is the very best: and so it 
is for him, just as my home is the best palace for me, even for me, 
King John, the king of the Cottage of Content. I will ask no 
more if Providence only continues to give me 

" A little field well tilled, 
A little house well filled, 
And a little wife well willed." 



476 



LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



. An Englishman's house is his castle, and the true Briton is 
alway fond of the old roof-tree. Green grows the houseleek on 
the thatch, and sweet is the honeysuckle at the porch, and dear are 
the gillyflowers in the front garden ; but best of all is the good 




wife within, who keeps all as neat as a new pin. Frenchmen may 
live in their coffee-houses, but an Englishman's best life is seen at 
home. 

" My own house, though small, 
Is the best house of all." 

When boys get tired of eating tarts, and maids have done with 
winning hearts, and lawyers cease to take their fees, and leaves 
leave off to grow on trees, then will John Ploughman cease to love 
his own dear home. John likes to hear some sweet voice sing, 



"'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 
Be it ever so humble, there 's no place like home ; 
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there, 
Which, wherever we rove, is not met with elsewhere. 

Home ! Home ! sweet, sweet home ! 

There 's no place like home ! " 



"JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ''PICTURES." 477 

People who take no pleasure in their own homes are queer folks, 
and no better than they should be. Every dog is a lion at his own 
door, and a man should make most of those who make most of 
him. Women should be housekeepers, and keep in the house. 
That man is to be pitied who has married one of the Miss Gad- 
abouts. Mrs. Cackle and her friend Mrs. Dressemout are enough 
to drive their husbands into the county jail for shelter; there can 
be no peace where such a piece of goods as either of them is to 
be found. Old Tusser said, — 

" ni husvvifery pricketh 
Herself up with pride ; 
Good huswifery tricketh 
Her house as a bride. 

** ni huswifery moveth 

With gossip to spend ; 
Good huswifery loveth 
Her household to tend." 

The woman whose husband wastes his evenings with low fellows 
at the beershop is as badly off as a slave ; and when the Act of Par- 
liament shuts up most of these ruin-houses, it will be an Act of 
Emancipation for her. Good husbands cannot have too much of 
their homes, and if their wives make their homes comfortable they 
will soon grow proud of them. When good fathers get among their 
children they are as merry as mice in malt. Our Joe Scroggs says 
he's tired of his house, and the house certainly looks tired of him, 
for it is all out of windows, and would get out of doors if it knew 
how. He will never be weary in well-doing, for he never began. 
What a different fellow he would be if he could beheve that the 
best side of the world is a man's own fireside. I know it is so, and 
so do many more. 

" Seek home for rest, 
For home is best." 

What can it be that so deludes lots of people who ought to 
know better? They have sweet wives and nice families and com- 
fortable houses, and they are several cuts above us poor country 
bumpkins, and yet they must be out of an evening. What is it 



4/8 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

for? Surely it can't be the company; for the society of the 
woman you love, who is the mother of your children, is worth all' 
the companies that ever met together. I fear they are away soak- 
ing their clay, and washing all their wits away. If so, it is a great 
shame, and those who are guilty of it ought to be trounced. Oh, 
that drink, that drink ! 

Dear, dear, what stuff people will pour into their insides ! Even 
if I had to be poisoned I should like to know what I was swallow- 
ing. A cup of tea at home does people a sight more good than 
all the mixtures you get abroad. There 's nothing like the best 
home-brewed, and there 's no better mashtub for making it in than 
the old-fashioned earthenware teapot. Our little children sing, 
" Please, father, come home," and John Ploughman joins with 
thousands of little children in that simple prayer, which every man 
who is a man should be glad to answer. I like to see husband 
and wife longing to see each other. 

•* An ear that waits to catch 
A hand upon the latch ; 
A step that hastens its sweet rest to win. 
A world of care without, 
A world of strife shut out, 
A world of love shut in." 

Fellow workmen, try to let it be so with you and your wives. 
Come home and bring your wages with you, and make yourselves 
happy by making every one happy around you. 

My printer jogs my elbow, and says, *' That will do : I can't get 
any more in." Then, Mr. Passmore, I must pass over many things, 
but I cannot leave off without praising God for His goodness to me 
and mine, and all my brother ploughmen, for it is of His great 
mercy that He lets us live in this dear old country, and loads us 
with so many benefits. 

This bit of poetry shall be my finish : I mean every word of it. 
Let us sing it together, — 

*' What pleasant groves, what goodly fields ! 
What fruitful hills and vales have we ! 
How sweet an air our climate yields ! 
How blest with flocks and herds we be ! 



JOHN PLOUGHMAN'S TALK" AND ♦'PICTURES." 4/9 

How milk and honey doth o'erflovv ! 

How clear and wholesome are our springs ! 
How safe from ravenous beasts we go ! 

And oh, how free from poisonous things ! 

*' For these and for our grass, our corn, 

For all that springs from blade or bough, 
For all those blessings that adorn 

Both wood and field, this kingdom through, — 
For all of these Thy praise we sing ; 

And humbly. Lord, entreat Thee too, 
That fruit to Thee we forth may bring, 

As unto us Thy creatures do." 



480 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPUllGEON. 



JESU'S PRESENCE DELIGHTFUL. 

Amidst us our Beloved stands, 
And bids us view His pierced hands ; 
Points to His wounded feet and side, — 
Blest emblems of the Crucified ! 

What food luxurious loads the board 
When at His table sits the Lord ! 
The wine how rich, the bread how sweet, 
When Jesus deigns the guests to meet ! 

If now, with eyes defiled and dim, 
We see the signs, but see not Him, 
Oh may His love the scales displace, 
And bid us see Him face to face ! 

Our former transports we recount 
When with Him in the holy mount ; 
These cause our souls to thirst anew, 
His marred but lovely face to view. 

Thou glorious Bridegroom of our hearts, 
Thy present smile a heaven imparts ; 
Oh lift the veil, if veil there be, 
Let every saint Thy beauties see. 



C. H. Spurgeon. 



XXVIII. 
THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER 



"I READ the newspaper," said John Newton, "that I may see how my 
Heavenly Father governs the world," — a very excellent reason indeed. We 
have read the newspaper during the last three months that we might find illus- 
trations of the teaching of our Heavenly Father's Word ; and we think wd have 
not read in vain, for we have gathered instances in proof and facts in explana- 
tion which we have jotted down in these pages. The worlds of nature and of 
providencp are full of parallels to things moral and spiritual, and serve as pic- 
tures to make the written book of inspiration more clear to the children of God. 
The Bible itself abounds in metaphors, types, and symbols ; it is a great picture- 
book ; there is scarcely a poetical figure which may not be found in the law and 
the prophets, or in the words of Jesus and His apostles. The preacher is bidden 
to speak as the oracles of God, and consequently he should imitate their illus- 
trative method, and abound in emblems and parables. A sermon which is full 
of ''likes" is full of windows to enlighten the mind and hands to hold it cap- 
tive. Discourses decked with similes will not only give pleasure to the children, 
but persons of riper years will be charmed and instructed thereby. — C. H. 
Spurgeon. 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 



LADIES' DRESS. 

" I will . . . that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness 
and sobriety." — i Tim. ii. 8, 9. 

" Be clothed with humility." — i Peter v. 5. 

ON the nth of April, in the course of an action brought by 
the well-known modiste, " Madame Rosalie," against a gentle- 
man of property to compel him to pay a debt contracted by his 
wife, it was stated in evidence that from $2,500 to $10,000 a year 
might be considered a reasonable sum for a lady moving in good 
society to expend on dress. The gentleman's wife, in the witness- 
box, repudiated with lofty scorn the idea that the former amount 
was sufficient. The lady is an invalid, has never been presented 
at court, and is not called into company, and yet was indebted for 
millinery to a very large amount. 

Is it, then, a fact that so large a sum is considered needful for 
the clothing of one human form? Surely the luxury of the old 
Roman Empire is .infecting our beloved country : may God grant 
that it may not, in our case also, be a sign of the decay of the 
nation. Women should be too considerate of the needs of the 
sick and suffering to spend their money so wastefully. A blanket 
placed on the bed of a poor old woman would be a better ornament 
to a lady's character than all the lace a dukedom could purchase. 
Yet so it is; but — tell it not in Gath — a lady cannot be dressed 
under $10,000 a year ! 

Are we wrong if we place side by side with this modern fact a 
description of the follies of women of the olden times? ** More- 



484 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

over the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, 
and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and 
mincing as they go., and making a tinkling with their feet : there- 
fore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the 
daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts. 
In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling 
ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires 
like the moon, the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, 
the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, 
and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels, the 
changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and 
the crisping-pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods 
and the vails." — Isaiah 'm. 16-23. 

What a contrast is the teaching of the Apostle Peter, in his first 
epistle, at the third chapter. *' Whose adorning let it not be that 
outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or 
of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the 
heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a 
meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who 
trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their 
own husbands." Peter sends the ladies to a ^yardrobe better than 
any which the frivolous possess, and to a jewel-case richer than 
ever belonged to the vain and showy ; but, alas, the mass of 
women do not care to adorn themselves in this right royal fashion ! 
Pride of dress is so childish that one wonders to see it in grown-up 
people. The old proverb speaks of being twice children ; but 
fops and dandies of either sex are always children. Archbishop 
Leighton has well said : *' It is strange upon how poor things men 
and women will be vain, and think themselves somebody ; not 
only upon some comeliness in their face or feature, which, though 
poor, is yet a part of themselves, but of things merely without 
them; that they are well lodged, or well mounted, or well ap- 
parelled, either richly or well in fashion. Light, empty minds are 
like bladders, blown up with anything." 

The only excuse we can think of for some dressy women is that 
they think themselves very ugly. What deformity must exist if it 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 485 

needs ten thousand a year to cover it ! If these persons accurately 
gauge their lack of personal charms, they must be suffering under 
a fearful measure of uncomeliness. Why, ten or twenty families 
could be reared in comparative comfort upon the amount thus 
expended in wastefulness ; and as matters go with the agricultural 
laborers in many of the shires, forty of the families owned by 
Hodge and his companions, including all the father Hodges and 
their wives, could be decently. provided for upon ten thousand a 
year. It will not bear thinking of. Yet many women professing 
godliness are shockingly extravagant, and can never be happy till 
their heads are tricked out with strange gear and their bodies with 
fashionable millinery. They little think how much they degrade 
therriselves and grieve the Spirit of God. A forgiven sinner decked 
out in the flaunting garments of a worldHng, casts suspicion upon 
her own pardon ; if she had ever been renewed in heart, would 
she, could she/adorn herself after the manner of a Jezebel? It is 
hard to think of a disciple of the Lord wasting her substance upon 
personal decoration. Does the lowly Jesus keep company with 
persons who spend hours at the glass, adorning, if not adoring, 
their own flesh? Can extravagance and fashionableness be pleas- 
ing to the Lord? No. Assuredly not. 

We are not judging that " neat handsomeness " which George 
Herbert says '* doth bear the sway," but we are sorrowful when we 
see those who set themselves up as examples, and move in a posi- 
tion where no outward show is required, going beyond ordinary 
worldly women in extravagance. It is the bane of society and the 
disgrace of religion. 

W^e wonder how much of the extravagance of female dress could 
be traced to the man-millinery of Anglican priests. Church con- 
gresses have been edified by exhibitions of ecclesiastical finery, in 
which were seen robes and vestments of the costliest material and 
the gaudiest colors. We have read of altar frontals which have 
taken years to finish, and are valued at more than $2,500. All 
this to deck out a table ! No wonder that it costs so much to dress 
a woman. When men, and even ministers, take to resplendent 
trappings, who can wonder that the weaker sex exercise a larger 
liberty? For shame, ye so-called priests, put away your baby 
garments, and quit yourselves like men ! 



486 . LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



THE RACE AND ITS SPECTATORS. 

" Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, 
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run 
with patience the race that is set before us." — Heb. xii. i. 

In an article upon the University boat-race of April 13, the 
*' Times" alludes to the dense throng upon the banks of the river, 
and to the interest which everybody seemed to feel in the struggle, 
and it then very truthfully adds : — 

** Nor do the competitors themselves fail to gain much from the 
sight of the vast crowds which attest the strength of the popular 
interest. The rivalry would hardly be so keen if the race were to 
be rowed amid the comparative privacy of a provincial stream or 
lake. Some years ago this was kept out of sight in a high and 
mighty way, by the suggestion that, to prevent the contest from 
being vulgarized, or for some other reason, it ought to be held at 
some quieter place than the neighborhood of London. Loch 
Maree, in the wilds of Ross-shire, would afford charming tranquil- 
lity and a few scores of cool spectators. But the stimulus of a 
great public competition would be gone, and, if we may venture to 
assume that undergraduates are made of the same stuff as other 
human beings, that stimulus is essential to such muscular exertion 
as we see at Oxford and Cambridge." 

This excellently illustrates the meaning of the apostle when he 
represents believers as running for a prize, with saints, apostles, 
and martyrs looking on. The stimulus communicated by specta- 
tors is his prominent idea. No doubt the young oarsmen find a 
stimulus in every eye that gazes upon them, and if the crowd were 
thinned they would take less interest in their task. The crowds 
which line the Thames may well be compared to clouds, so com- 
pletely do they darken the banks from end to end of the course; 
and much more may those who gaze upon the Christian's life be 
thus spoken of Myriads lean from heaven, or look from earth, 
or peer upward from the pit. Holy men of all ages, now with 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 487 

God, join with a great host still abiding here below. Angels and 
principalities and powers unite as one vast army and observe us 
intently; and frowning demons of the pit in their dread array all 
gaze with interest upon the Christian's work and way. Shoul4 
not every glance animate us to do our utmost? 

And what eyes there are among those who observe us ! Had 
the Queen been present, we could imagine the young athletes 
straining themselves even more than they had done, for the glance 
of royalty quickens energy to the utmost. In our case, the King 
of kings looks down upon us, and the Prince of Life with tender 
sympathy watches our progress. What manner of race should 
ours be under the Lord's own eye ! Competitors of former years 
were at the boat-race to see whether the new-comers would main- 
tain the honor of their University. Even so the worthies of an- 
cient times, who counted. not their lives dear unto them, take 
pleasure in the efforts of those who to-day are wrestling for vic- 
tory, as they themselves did in ages past. The approving glances 
of prophets and apostles may well stir our souls. Dear ones who 
have gone before also mark our behavior -in the race. A mother 
in heaven takes delight in the ardor of her son ; brothers " gone 
over to the majority " are serenely glad as they see their brothers 
pushing forward in the noble cause. Our leaders in the faith, 
oarsmen who taught us how to fly over the waves, regard us with 
anxious interest, and joy in our successes. These things should 
quicken us, and lend us arguments for unabated energy. 

Of course the apostle was not alluding to a boat-race, but to 
the Olympian games. Those games furnish a suggestive figure, 
which. we leave the reader to work out at leisure when we have 
given him a glimpse at the race from the window of good Dr. 
John Brown. 

" At Olympia, a town of Ells, games were celebrated in honor 
of Jupiter once every five years. An almost incredible multitude 
from all the states of Greece and from the surrounding countries 
attended these games as spectators. The noblest of the Grecian 
youths appeared as competitors. In this race, a course was 
marked out for the candidates for public fame, and a tribunal 
erected at the end of the course, on which sat the judges, — men 



488 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

who had themselves in former years been successful competitors 
for Olympic honors. The victors in the morning contests did not 
receive their prizes till the evening ; but after their exertions they 
joined the band of spectators, and looked on while others pro- 
secuted the same arduous labors which they had brought to ' an 
honorable termination." 

It is a fine thought that those honorable men in the Church of 
God who have themselves behaved worthily, take the deepest 
interest in the young men who have newly set out upon the race. 
Let the youngsters so behave themselves that the veterans may 
never fear for the cause of God. We know that a great deal of 
anxiety is felt just now, for the rising race shows signs of being 
unstable and superficial ; but we hope for better things, and even 
trust that the men of the coming age will outstrip their predeces- 
sors, and draw forth the approving shouts of the encompassing 
cloud of witnesses. 



A FOX IN THE PULPIT. 

" Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines." — Cant. ii. 15. 
" O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts."— Ezek. xiii. 4. 

A SHORT letter which appeared in *' The Rock," April 18, is 
well worth preserving in connection with the above texts. It is to 
be feared that the writer might have pointed to not a few Noncon- 
formist pulpits, and might have made the same remark concerning 
their occupants, " Duty requires that they should be taken out 
and kept out." 

"A Fox IN THE Pulpit. — Sir: A singular circumstance took 
place at Hever, in Kent, on Saturday last. A fox, hard pressed 
by the huntsmen, leaped the churchyard wall and disappeared. 
The hounds and huntsmen were searching and wondering, when 
an old woman came out from a back door of the church, which 
happened to be open, with the exclamation, * Here he is, in -the 
pulpit;' and, sure enough, poor Reynard had slipped in at the* 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 489 

Open door and sought sanctuary, curled up In a corner of the 
pulpit. Of course he was soon ejected. To my friend, who had 
witnessed the scene and described it very vividly, I observed that 
it reminded one of certain sly foxes in the Church of England, 
who get into our pulpits and think they are safe there. Duty 
requires that they should be taken out and kept out. — I am, etc., 
W. J. B." 

This is written by a Church-of-England man, and published in a 
sound Church paper, and so it is no violation of charity to repeat 
it, especially as we quite agree with every word of it. We wish 
that all the Popish foxes could be ejected from the national 
Establishments, for they do more mischief than tongue can tell. 

" The fox that steals the lamb so tender, 
Can never be the fold's defender, 
He 's but a base and sly pretender." 

The difficulty seems to be to get these foxes out and keep them 
out. Once in the pulpit, they know how to hold their position ; 
you may dig out a fox, but you cannot- dislodge a Romanizing 
priest. Acts of Parliament altogether fail, because such things 
are meant for men, and foxes dexterously evade them. Reynard's 
imitators have many knavish tricks, and know how to twist and 
turn, and so they escape statutes and laws, and still pursue their 
evil business. In the reforming times a popular caricature repre- 
sentee! a priest as a fox preaching to an assembly of geese from 
the text, " How earnestly I long for you all in my bowels." The 
drawing would not be out of date if it were published to-day. 
How silly must the geese be who yield themselves heart and soul 
to such foxes ! Yet there are flocks of them. 



490 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



THE EVIL WROUGHT BY ONE MAN. 

" One sinner destroyeth much good." — Eccles. ix. i8. 

" That man perished not alone in his iniquity." — Josh. xxii. 20. 

An American paper contains the following paragraph : " An oil- 
train of forty oil-tanks ran into a heavy freight-train near Slating- 
ton, Pennsylvania. The engineer of the latter train had been com- 
pelled to stop to cool off a hot * journal,' but the conductor had 
sent no one back to warn following trains of danger. Several per- 
sons were killed and about forty injured, — the result of one man's 
carelessness." Amid the blaze of the oil, the screams of burning 
men and women, and the charred remains of the unhappy victims, 
we see how great a calamity may arise out of a little neglect, and 
how much the destiny of others may hang upon the acts of one 
man. Have we a due sense of our own personal responsibility? 
Have we ever reflected that our own conduct may influence others 
for good or evil throughout eternity? We may have no wicked 
intent, and yet our carelessness and indifference may be as fatal to 
immortal souls as if we had been profane or profligate. Moral 
virtues, apart from religion, may suggest to our children that god- 
liness is needless ; was not their father an excellent man, and yet 
he was unconverted? Thus may generation after generation be 
kept in spiritual death by an argument fetched from the irreligion 
of one who was in other respects a model character. Who among 
us would desire this? 

Even if we hope that we are ourselves saved, it should cause us 
grave question if we are not bringing others to Jesus. 

A destroyer of souls will have an awful doom at the last, and he 
who failed to do his best to save his fellows will not be held guilt- 
less before the Lord. 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 491 



CONSCIENTIOUS SEPARATION. 

" A conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." — Acts xxiv. 16. 

" If the Lord be God, follow Him : but if Baal, then follow him." — i Kings xviii. 21. 

The " Daily News " of May 8, in an article on Lord Carnarvon's 
resignation, says : " Mr. Carlyle, wearied with much eighteenth- 
century talk about virtue, somewhere requests the talker, with a 
strong adjuration, to ' be virtuous, and have done with it.' Too 
much praise of what is after all but the carrying into statesman- 
ship of the laudable but not marvellous practice of common hon- 
esty might lead the hearer to express a similarly petulant prayer. 
It is not at all desirable that a politician should be perpetually 
interrogating his conscience to see what its opinion may be as to 
this tax on tobacco and that alteration in the bankruptcy laws. 
Such a practice could only lead to very .considerable public in- 
convenience, and in the case of the individual practising it, to 
something not very different from hypocrisy. But occasions may 
and do arise when a policy or an individual measure commends 
itself to the majority of a ministry which seems morally wrong 
or politically unadvisable to some member thereof When this 
is the case, ought he to put his convictions in his pocket, and 
salve his conscience with the theory of party allegiance, or ought 
he to go out from those respecting whom he feels that he is not 
of thern? No one will in words profess the former doctrine, but 
many will act upon it. Lord Carnarvon has acted upon the latter 
doctrine, which everybody professes, but many set aside in prac- 
tice. Of course it is important that the conscience appealed to 
should be a healthy conscience, not given to unnecessary ques- 
tioning and quibbling." 

Not only do we admire the consistency of Lord Carnarvon, but 
we wish we saw a little more of it among professing Christians. 
We know some ministers who do not believe the doctrines of the 
church to which they belong, and yet for reasons best known to 



492 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

themselves they remain in that community, and undermine the 
very foundations of the faith which they profess to preach. How 
this can be made to be in accordance with morahty we know not. 
Surely it would be more like common honesty if they would at 
once show their colors, and no longer pretend to be what they are 
not. Some Christians, too, who never enter a pulpit, are equally 
guilty, for they are recognized as members of churches against 
whose teaching they frequently protest. They support evil systems 
and know them to be evil. They dis'sent in their hearts, but yet 
consent by their actions; for fear of giving offence to men, they 
are constantly offending God and their own consciences. What- 
ever their excuses may be, are they not resolvable into doing evil 
that good may come? Of course it is not to be desired that men 
should be perpetually vexed with scruples upon minor points, and 
ready to quarrel about anything or nothing, because their con- 
science is morbidly sensitive ; but surely it cannot be right for a 
truthful man to 'be a member of a church from whose confession 
he widely disagrees ■ his position is a protest against his own con- 
victions, and his convictions make his profession a falsehood. We 
ought to be intensely anxious to be so clear in the whole of our 
religious standing that under the light of the Day of Judgment no 
glaring contradictions shall be discovered in our lives ; otherwise, 
we may not only be guilty of " something not very different from 
hypocrisy," but we may fall into hypocrisy itself A little tam- 
pering with conscience is a very dangerous thing; it is very like 
the dropping of a stitch, which may lead to the unravelling of all 
the work. We used to say in our childhood, — 

" He who. steals a pin 
Will live to steal a bigger thing." 

The rhyme was bad, but the doctrine was true. If we violate con- 
science, even upon the smallest matter, we may come at last to 
have no conscience at all. 

Mr. Carlyle's advice is thoroughly sound, and his adjuration is 
none too strong: " Be virtuous, and have done with it; " speak the 
truth and stand to it ; profess the faith which is revealed in the 
Scriptures, and neither by word of mouth nor by act, nor by 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 493 

association, nor even in thought, contradict the eternal verities of 
God. We have had too much of concession in order to win a 
hollow peace from philosophic Rationalists on the one hand, and 
superstitious Romanizers on the other. The thing will not work, 
and if it would it is wrong, and ought not to be attempted. Who 
gave us the right to yield an atom of truth? Are the doctrines of 
God's Word yours or mine to do as we like with, to give up this 
and modify that? Nay, verily; we are put in trust with the Gospel, 
and it is at our peril that we dream of compromising the least of 
its teachings. A straightforward, decided line of testimony is the 
best, is most consistent with true charity, and in the end will most 
promote peace. 

The trimming, hesitating policy of many reminds us of Luther's 
words to Erasmus : ** You desire to walk upon eggs without crush- 
ing them, and among glasses without breaking them! " This is 
a difficult game to play at, and one which is more suitable for a 
clown at a theatre than a servant of Christ. When you are at- 
tempting a compromise, you have to look around you and move 
as cautiously as a tight-rope dancer, for fear of offending on one 
side or the other. A little too much this way or that, and over you 
go. A cat on hot cinders is not in an enviable position. No true- 
hearted man will ever bear such wretched constraint for any length 
of time, or indeed at all. Think of being able to go no further 
than the aforementioned timorous, time-serving Erasmus, who said, 
" I will not be unfaithful to the cause of Christ; at least, so far as 
the age will permit me!' Out upon such cowardice ! life is too dear 
when bought at such a price. 

*' I cannot tell what you and other men 

Think of this life ; but for my single self, 
I had as lief not be, as live to be 
In awe of such a thing as I myself." 



494 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



TEMPTING TEMPTATION. 

" Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in 
the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." — Ps. i. i, 
" Lead us not into temptation." — Matt. vi. 13. 

The '' Rock " of May lo speaks of fox-hunting parsons, and 
remarks : '* To come down to modern times, the late Rev. Joseph 
Berington, Roman Catholic chaplain at Buckland, Berks, and a 
writer on history, was fond of a run with the hounds. When visit- 
ing his patron's family, the Throckmortons of Weston Underwood, 
Bucks, he was in the neighborhood of two packs, and did not 
neglect the opportunity. He did not actually go * to cover,' but 
rode out in the direction the hounds might take, and thus fell in 
with the hunt, and got half a day's sport without appearing to 
seek it. This was playing the politician to gratify his inclination. 
This anecdote was learned at a table where he has often dined, 
from personal friends of his own." 

Why couldn't the man have hunted openly or not at all? If he 
felt ashamed of it, why did he do it? Thoroughbred fox-hunters 
must have despised him. The policy of the Rev. Joseph is fol- 
lowed by a great many in daily life. They complain of being 
tempted, and yet they carefully put themselves in the way of 
temptation; they profess to have been grievously misled by evil 
company, and yet they continue to stand in the way of sinners, 
and to delight themselves with their evil conversation. They 
express the greatest grief if they fall into drunkenness, and say 
that they have been *' overtaken " ; but notwithstanding this they 
carefully ride along the road which drunkenness is known to 
pursue, and, under the name of moderation, drink themselves fully 
up to the boundary line. They do not actually go *' to cover," 
but they ride out in the direction which the hounds always take. 
They profess to be averse to frivolous amusements, to feasting, 
rioting, and the like, but they are pretty careful to call upon their 
friends when such things are going on, and so get half a day's 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 495 

sport without appearing to seek it. They are averse to infidelity, 
and yet peruse sceptical reviews; they dislike licentiousness, and 
yet spend hours over doubtful novels. They tempt the devil to 
tempt them, and go into dark lanes in order to be beset by their 
favorite sins. 

Thus to excuse sin as many do is mere nonsense, or worse; 
such fooling may amuse conscience, and prevent its plainly speak- 
ing the truth, but it is altogether unworthy of an honest man. 
Excuses which hold no water are caught up under the notion that 
a bad excuse is better than none : the fact being that a bad excuse 
is worse than none ; for it proves that the man has not the courage 
to defend what he has the audacity to do, nor the common 
honesty to take the responsibility of his own act and deed. Let 
us follow the advice of Solomon : *' Enter not into the path of the 
wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by 
it, turn from it, and pass away." We pity a man who catches an 
infectious disease, but we should cease to do so if we heard that 
he purposely went down to the fever hospital, or wilfully rode in 
the small-pox carriage. If you go to live with a sweep, you ought 
not to blame him if your linen loses its whiteness, or, if you do so, 
every one will see through your inconsistency. If it be true that 
when you go to Rome you must do as Rome does, then do not go 
to Rome at all, and no such necessity will arise. 

It is wonderful how circumstances appear to help a man when 
he wants to do wrong, and some there are who even dare to quote 
the fact as a reason why they ought not to be blamed. *' They 
happened to be on the spot, or they would never have thought of 
it: " thus they are profane enough to hint that Providence itself 
misled them. This is only a repetition of Adam's plea, *' The 
woman whom thou gavest me, she tempted me, and I did eat." 
Alas ! the vile attempt to father sin upon the Lord Himself is often 
made, but it is none the less horrible. Let us abandon such blas- 
phemous endeavors to shift the responsibility of our actions, and 
give our consciences a fair chance of being heard. 



496 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



REVIEW AT ALDERSHOT. 

" Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because 
of the truth."— Ps. Ix. 4. 

" Terrible as an army with banners." — Cant. vi. 4. 

The "Daily News" of May 14, in its report of the review at 
Aldershot before the Queen, mentions '' The Forty-ninth, whose 
color-party bore the tattered green flag that floated on the heights 
of Alma and over the trenches in front of Sebastopol, and served 
as a rallying-point amid the mists of Inkermann ; and the gallant 
Fifty-second, whose history has been untarnished from the first 
campaign in Hindostan, through all the Peninsular wars, beginning 
at Vimiera and ending at Waterloo, down to the conquest of 
Delhi." 

Soldiers appear to have an almost religious attachment to the 
colors of the regiment, and the more tattered they become the 
more they value them. And well they may, for they are in fact 
the materialized history of the host. They tell of the cruel rain 
of shot and shell, the dust and smoke of the conflict and the 
battle, " with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood," — 
terrible records truly, but as long as there are warriors, and cour- 
age in fight is valued, banners and standards must always be 
prized. 

The sacramental host of God's elect bears the standard of the 
truth, and has borne it these thousands of years, and the truth has 
become endeared to every soldier of the cross by all the conflicts 
through which we have borne it. Heresies and scepticisms have 
raged around the banner, but from the first campaign even 
until now it has gone on from victory to victory. The very 
thought of it stirs enthusiasm in the hearts of the warriors of 
Christ. Shall we ever desert it? Shall we sufl"er it to be trailed 
in the mire? God forbid ! We will uplift it, and display it in the 
face of the enemy, until the last great battle shall be fought, and 
we shall hear the triumphant shout, '' Hallelujah ! hallelujah ! the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 497 

It has of late been proposed that the army of Christ should 

march without its banner, or that all the banners of philosophic 

sceptics should be stitched together and uphfted in its place. To 

this we solemnly demur. We will march under the old ensign ; 

of the new ones we know nothing, except that they will lead us to 

defeat. Faith has won all her victories under the standard of 

revelation, and she expects to win all her future glory under the 

same unaltered and unalterable flag. Let others do as they will ; 

as for us, the old, old gospel shall be our rallying-point amid the 

mists of modern thought, and we hope to bear it from land to land 

throughout the whole campaign of this dispensation, till we shall 

see it borne aloft at the coronation festival of our triumphant 

Lord. 

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, 
Ye soldiers of the cross ; 
Lift high His royal banner, 
It must not suffer loss. 

" From victory to victory 
His army shall He lead, 
Till every foe is vanquished, 
And Christ is Lord indeed." 



RELIGIOUS SLUGGARDS. 

"Their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord." — Neh. iii. 5. 
*' Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep." — Pro v. xix. 15. 
" Let us not sleep, as do others." — i TiiESS. v. 6. 

An American paper has the following in its corner of wit and 
anecdote : '* A Sunday-school boy at Maysville. Kentucky, was 
asked by the superintendent the other day if his father was a 
Christian. 'Yes, sir,' he replied, 'but he is not working at it 
much.' " 

In too many cases the same statement might be made, for mul- 
titudes have a name to live and are dead, and the love of many 
has waxed cold. Religion is a profession with them, but it is not 
accompanied by practice. Now, of all pursuits in the world, the 
Christian profession requires the most energetic action, and it 

32 . 



498 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Utterly fails where diligence and zeal are absent. What can a man 
do as a farmer, a merchant, a carpenter, or even as a beggar, 
unless he follows up his calling with activity and perseverance? 
A sluggard desireth and hath nothing, whatever his trade may be. 
What, then, can he hope to win who calls himself a Christian, and 
neither learns of Christ as his Teacher, nor follows Him. as his 
Master, nor serves Him as his Prince? Salvation is not by works, 
but it is salvation from idleness. We are not saved because we are 
earnest; but he who is not earnest has great reason to question 
whether he is saved. 

Do you know a Christian who never attends week-day services, 
and only comes to public worship once on the Sunday? "He is 
not working at it much." Do you know a professor who is not 
engaged in the Sabbath-school, the Visiting Society, the Tract 
Association, or in any other form of usefulness? *' He is not 
working at it much." Do you know a man who gives little or 
nothing to the work of the Lord, neglects family prayer, never 
says a word for Jesus, and never intercedes for perishing souls? 
" He is not working at it much." Perhaps he is the best judge of 
his religion, and does not think it worth being diligent about. We 
heard of one who said his religion did not cost him a shilling a 
year, and a friend observed that he thought it was more than it 
was worth ; and in the present case we may conclude that a man's 
religion is a very poor affair when ** he does not work at it 
much." 

Our Lord does not set before us the Christian life as a dainty 
repose, but as a warfare and a struggle. He bids us "strive to 
enter in at the strait gate," and never suggests to us that we can 
enter into His rest if we are not willing to bear His yoke. Faith 
saves us, but it is the faith which worketh by love ; all our salva- 
tion is wrought in us by the Lord both as to willing and doing, 
but yet we are to work it out with fear and trembling; which also 
by His grace we will henceforth do. 

" Sure I must fight if I would reign : 
Increase my courage, Lord ! 
I '11 bear the toil, endure the pain, 
Supported by Thy Word." 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 499 



THE WITHERING OF UNBELIEF. 

"Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be as the 
grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up : wherewith the mower 
filleth not his hand , nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom." — Ps. cxxix. 5, 6, 7. 

" Notwithstanding the humidity of the season, the grass crop 
on Wandsworth Bridge will not be submitted to tender this year." 
This witty paragraph, taken from the ^' South London Press," an 
interesting local paper, of May 25, refers to a bridge upon which 
there is little traffic. Of course the grass will not be mown, for it 
has no depth of earth to grow upon, and is of no value. 

The text which we have quoted here finds an illustration. It is 
true, a bridge is not a house-top, but in scantiness of soil it is much 
the same. The opponents of the Gospel are very numerous, but 
they never come to anything; they are always confounded before 
they can well establish their theories. . Various orders of infidels 
have sprung up suddenly, and have almost as suddenly disap- 
peared, and even those which have endured for a longer season 
have ultimately passed away, leaving scarcely any memorial behind 
them. Unbelief is an unhealthy and unsatisfactory plant ; there is 
nothing in it; it yields neither seed for the sower nor bread for 
the eater; it is not even good enough to fodder the cattle with; 
the very lowest of mankind find it unsatisfactory meat. Rational- 
ists should never be too confident of their favorite scheme, for it is 
only one of a long series of short-lived weeds, and will be sure to 
wither before long, and to be denounced by some other order of 
advanced thinkers. Infidelity, like Canaan of old under the Hivites 
and the Jebusites, is a land which eateth up the inhabitants thereof. 
Scepticism derives most of its life from opposition ; it has no 
natural stamina, and is rather a negative than a real existence. 
Little cause can there be for the citizens of Zion to be afraid of 
such adversaries ; instead of dismay we may even breathe defiance. 
"The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee 
to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at 



500 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

thee." It were well if this sacred confidence were more common 
among us ; for it is to be deplored that, as each crop of the house- 
top grass of unbelief springs up, much unjustifiable alarm is mani- 
fested, and this does most of the mischief. There is really no 
cause to fear things so essentially feeble and self-destructive as 
systems of unbehef The wooden guns of the Chinese are not 
more ridiculous than the philosophies of infidels. 

"Ashamed they fly, they start aloof, 
Each foe of Zion flies, — 
They are as grass upon the roof, 
That ere the uprooting dies ; 

" Where no glad store may reaper find 
To fill his gathering hand, 
Nor high their bosom heap who bind 
The sheaves in wreathed band ; 

" Where never traveller as he passed 
Did prayer or greeting frame, 
Or say ' God's blessing o'er thee last, 
We bless you in God's name.' " 



MOORE'S REMONSTRANCE. 

*' Should such a man as I flee ? " — Neh. vi. ii. 

" He that endureth to the end shall be saved." — Matt. x. 22. 

On Tuesday, May 28, Earl Russell died. In biographical 
notices given by most of the papers allusion is made to the pro- 
position of Lord John Russell to retire from public life while yet a 
young man, in consequence of some serious discouragement wjiich 
he had received. It is stated that he was deterred from so doing 
by the expostulations of Thomas Moore, and quotations are made 
from the *' Remonstrance " which that sparkling poet addressed to 
him. On reading the poem it struck us at once that many of the 
remarks would apply in other and higher senses to any Christian 
who should be tempted to withdra\y himself from the service of 
his Lord. The first three verses of the poem we will quote at 
length : — > 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 5OI 

" What thou^ with thy genius, thy youth, and thy name — 
Thou, born of a Russell — whose instinct to run 
The accustomed career of thy sires, is the same 
As the eaglet's to soar with his eyes on the sun, — 

"Whose nobility comes to thee stamped with a seal 
Far, far more ennobling than monarch e'er set, 
With the blood of thy race offered up for the weal 
Of a nation that swears by that martyrdom yet, — 

" Shalt thou be faint-hearted and turn from the strife, 
From the mighty arena where all that is grand. 
And devoted, and pure, and adorning in life, 

'T is for high-thoughted spirits like thine to command ? " 

Born from above and bearing the name of Christian, shall the 
child of God cease to battle for that which is good ? Conscious of 
a sacred instinct which impels him onward and upward, shall he 
sit down in despair or retire into inglorious ease? Serving a Lord 
who spared not His heart's blood for man's redemption, and follow- 
ing in the track of thousands of martyrs who counted not their 
lives dear unto them, shall we selfishly shun self-denial and avoid 
reproach? No; by God's grace let us never dream of timorous 
silence, nor think for an instant that our Hght can be spared 
from the darkening horizon of our times. We may have neither 
eloquence nor genius, but such as we have we will consecrate to 
the last moment of our lives to Him who hath bought us by 
His precious blood. We may address to every timorous heart 
the closing verse of Tom Moore, altered to suit the case : — 

" Thus ransomed, thou never canst sleep in the shade ; 
If the stirrings of impulse,, the terror of fame, 
And the charms of thy cause have not power to persuade, 
Yet think how to Jesus thou 'rt pledged by thy name." 

He who wears the name of Christian is sworn to sustain the 
cause of God and truth with the last drop that warms his veins. 



502 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



A PATH STREWN WITH BLESSINGS. 

"I will save you, and ye shall be a blessing." — Zech. viii. 13. 

" When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; and when the eye saw me, it gave 
witness to me : Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him 
that had none to help him." — Job xxix. 11, 12. 

The " Sussex Daily News," of June 6, has the following quo- 
tation and remark : " ' The path of a Pope must be strewn with 
blessings.' Such is the neat and appropriate sentiment attributed 
to Leo XIII." • 

So far as the history of a Pope has come under our own 'ob- 
servation it has rather been strewn with curses than with blessings. 
Pio Nono at any rate appeared to be exceedingly voluble when 
delivering a tirade, and could fulminate an anathema as neatly and 
appropriately as any other dealer in strong language. Happily 
we have reason to believe that his denunciations were not much 
more effectual than his benedictions. If either the one or the 
other had any effect at all it would appear to have operated by the 
rule of contrary : for those whom he cursed most prospered best, 
and those whom he blessed had cause to cry " save us from our 
friend." We believe that as a matter of fact his fulminations were 
so barren of all results, that we may apply to them the lines of 
" Ingoldsby Legends," which describe the cardinal in his great red 
hat when he had lost his costly turquoise ring : — 

" The cardinal rose with a dignified look, 
He called for his candle, his bell, and his book ; 
In holy anger and pious grief 
He solemnly cursed the rascally thief! 
He cursed him at board, he cursed him in bed ; 
From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head; 
He cursed him in sleeping, that every night 
He should dream of the devil and wake in a fright ; 
He cursed him in eating, he cursed him in drinking ; 
He cursed him in coughing, in sneezing, in winking; 
He cursed him in sitting, in standing, in lying; 
He cursed him in walking, in riding, in flying; 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 503 

He cursed him in living, he cursed him in dying ! 
Never was heard such a terrible curse ! 

But what gave rise 

To no httle surprise, 
Nobody seemed otie penny the worse / " 

True, there was a certain thievish jackdaw which began to pine 
and lose its feathers, but we do not believe that Pio Nono ever 
managed to injure even a sparrow or a spider with his bulls and 
excommunications. 

Let us hope that Leo XIIL intends to abound in benisons ; but 
even if he does so, we suspect that nobody will seem one penny 
the better. 

Ho^vever, it will be all the better for Leo himself if he will learn 
to lie down with the lamb. 

If from the quotation we take out the word " Pope," and write 
" Christian," the sentiment will be more neat and appropriate than 
ever: "The path of a Christian must be strewn with blessings." 
God has blessed him unspeakably in Christ Jesus, and he should 
therefore bless God with all his heart and soul. The promise is, 
" I will bless thee, and thou shalt be a blessing," and every child 
of believing Abraham should endeavor to be a blessing to all those 
that are round about him, according to that ancient covenant 
promise. Like David, the behever should bless his household ; 
nay more, hke the high priest of old he should bless all the people. 
His words should impart the blessing of instruction, and his life 
should confer the blessing of holy example. His private prayers 
should bring down innumerable blessings from heaven, and his 
public acts, abounding with pity and love, should bless the poor 
and needy of earth. The sick, the afflicted, and the desponding 
should hail his presence, and find in him a tender friend. He 
should go about doing good. As there is a promise that his path, 
Hke the shining light, shall increase in splendor, so also should he 
increase in the warmth and light of love and kindness, bearing life 
and joy and healing to the sons of men. May the blessed God 
reveal Himself in His blessed people, that in them and in their seed 
all the nations of the earth may be blessed ! 



504 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



PEARLS. 

" No mention shall be made of coral or of pearls ; for the price of wisdom is above 
rubies." — Job xxviii. 18. 

" Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, 
and bought it." — Matt. xiii. 46. 

The Paris correspondent of the "Daily News," of June 11, 
writes : " The French have grown so clever at imitating pearls that 
a jeweller in this Exhibition shows a necklace which purports to 
be a mixture of true pearls and false, and he challenges his cus- 
tomers to single out the real ones if they can. Nobody had yet 
succeeded, when I myself made an ineffectual attempt." 

The art of pearl-making is by no means a new discovery; by 
various methods imitation pearls have been manufactured in divers 
countries for many years. The French have, however, proved 
themselves superior to all competitors. Specimens of their artifi- 
cial productions exhibited at the Exposition of 1867 could neither 
in their lustre nor color be distinguished from oriental pearls, even 
when the genuine and the sham were laid side by side. We are 
told that there is only one way by which they can be detected, 
and that is by their specific weight; they are much lighter than 
the real pearls. 

There is ** one Pearl of great price," about whose genuineness 
there can never be a question ; but all the goodly pearls which this 
world can yield need to be weighed before we may conclude them 
to be of any great value, — indeed, the choicest pearls of earth are 
insignificant in price compared with Him who is more precious 
than rubies, and of whom it is written, that '* all the things thou 
canst desire are not to be compared unto Him." Even real pearls, 
the best of them, fit to adorn an emperor's crown, and to heighten 
the beauty of the fairest of maidens, have been known to sicken 
and die and vanish in a day. Every now and then we hear of 
magnificent ancestral pearls, the pride of noble families, turning 
of a sickly color and crumbling into dust. Not long ago the 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 505 

crown-jeweller of France solemnly applied to the Academy of 
Science for the means of preventing the decay and corruption 
of the precious gems in the royal crown. No satisfactory answer 
was given, and many highly-prized jewels have since then passed 
away. " Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit." 

In a work entitled '' The Wonders of the Deep," M. Scheie de 
Vere tells us the following story, of which we leave our readers to 
draw the moral for themselves : '' A dusky fisherman in the far-off 
seas of India once found a pearl in an oyster. He had heard of 
such costly gems, and sold it to an Arab for a gold coin which 
maintained him for a whole year in luxury and idleness. The 
Arab exchanged it for powder and shot furnished him by a Russian 
merchant on board a trading vessel, who even yet did not recog- 
nize the dirty, dust-covered little ball as a precious jewel. He 
brought it home as a present for his children on the banks of the 
Neva, where a brother merchant saw it and bought it for a trifle. 
The pearl had at last found one who could appreciate its priceless 
value. The great man — for it was a merchant of the first class, 
the owner of a great fortune — rejoiced at the silent fraud by 
which he had obtained the one pearl of great price, without selling 
all and buying it fairly, and cherished it a$ the pride of his heart. 
Visitors came from all parts of the world to see the wonder. He 
received them in his merchant's costume in a palace plain without 
but resplendent inside with all that human art can do to embellish 
a dwelling, and led them silently through room after room, filled 
with rare collections and dazzling by the splendor of their orna- 
ments. At last he opened with his own key the carved folding- 
doors of an inner room, which surprised the visitor by its apparent 
simplicity. The floor, to be sure, was inlaid with malachite and 
costly marble, the ceiling carved in rare woods, and the walls hung 
with silk tapestry; but there was no furniture, no gilding, nothing 
but a round table of dark Egyptian marble in the centre. Under 
it stood a strong box of apparently wonderful ingenuity, for even 
the cautious owner had to go through various readings of alpha- 
bets, and to unlock one door after another, before he reached 
an inner cavity, in which a plain square box of Russia leather 
was standing alone. With an air akin to reverence, the happy 



506 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

merchant would take the box and press it for a moment to his 
bosom, then, devoutly crossing himself and murmuring an invoca- 
tion to some saint, he would draw a tiny gold key, which he wore 
next his person, from his bosom, unlock the casket, and hold up 
his precious pet to the Hght that fell from a large grated window 
above. 

'* It was a glorious sight for the lover of such things : a pearl 
as large as a small egg, of unsurpassed beauty and marvellous 
lustre. The sphere was perfect, the play of colors, as he would 
let it reluctantly roll from his hands over his long white fingers 
down on the dark table, was only equalled by the flaming opal, 
and yet there was a soft, subdued light about the lifeless thing 
which endowed it with an almost irresistible charm. It was not 
only the pleasure its perfect form and matchless beauty gave* to 
the eye, nor the overwhelming thought of the fact that the little 
ball was worth anything an emperor or a millionnaire might choose 
to give for it, — there was a magic in its playful, ever-changing 
sheen as it rolled to and fro, — a contagion in the rapt fervor with 
which the grim old merchant watched its every flash and flare, 
which left few hearts cold as they saw the marvel of St. Peters- 
burg. For such it was, and the emperor himself, who loved pearls 
dearly, had in vain ofl"ered rank and titles and honors for the 
priceless gem. 

*' A few year? afterwards a conspiracy was discovered, and sev- 
eral great men were arrested. Among the suspected was the 
merchant. Taking his one great treasure with him, he fled to 
Paris. Jewellers and amateurs, Frenchmen and foreigners, flocked 
around him, for the fame of his jewel had long since reached 
France. He refused to show it for a time. At last he appointed a 
day when his great rival in pearls, the famous Dutch banker, the 
Duke of Brunswick, and other men well known for their love of 
precious stones and pearls, were to behold the wonder. He drew 
forth the golden key, he opened the casket; but his face turned 
deadly pale, his eyes started from their sockets, his whole frame 
began to tremble, and his palsied hand let the casket drop. The 
pearl was discolored ! A sickly blue color had spread over it, and 
dimmed its matchless lustre. His gem was diseased. In a short 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 507 

time it turned into a white powder, and the rich merchant of St. 
Petersburg, the owner of the finest pearl known to the world, was 
a pauper. The pearl had avenged the poor Indian of the East, 
the Arab, and the poor traveller, and administered silent justice to 
the purchaser who paid not its price." 



THE FICKLENESS OF MANKIND. 

"Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." — Gen. xlix. 4. 

*' Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie." — Ps. 
Ixviii. 9. 

The ''Times," June 10, has the following from its correspon- 
dent at St. Petersburg on public opinion in Russia: "A well- 
known Russian journaHst, who has had abundant opportunities of 
observing and studying the consecutive changes of public opinion 
among the educated classes of his countrymen during the last 
two years, has just published the following results of his obser- 
vations : — 

"'July, 1876. — Wild enthusiasm. Complete enchantment with 
the Servians. Desire for war. 

"'October, 1876. — Despondency. Disenchantment with re- 
gard to the Servians ; hostility toward them, and regret for what 
has been done for them. 

"'November, 1876. — Enthusiasm for a war in the interest of 
the Bulgarians ; pity for and sympathy with them. 

"'April, 1877. — Complete ecstasy. Brotherly love for the 
Bulgarians. Dissatisfaction with the Servians. 

"'August and September, 1877. — Despondency in consequence 
of failures (before Plevna and elsewhere). Silent irritation against 
the Bulgarians. Readiness to abandon the whole thing if only a 
way could be found out of it. 

" ' December, 1877. — Intoxication from success. Desire to carry 
the thing out to the end. Bad feeling toward the Bulgarians. 

"'February, 1878. — Wild delight at the peace and the yielding 
disposition of Turkey. Sympathy with Turkey and corresponding 



508 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

coolness toward the Bulgarians. Passionate determination to in- 
sist on the acquisition of Batoum. Consciousness of the necessity 
of this acquisition. Indifference to the question of England and 
Austria. 

" ' May, 1878. — Complete disenchantment on the score of the 
Bulgarians. Suspicions of insincerity on the part of the Turks. 
Talk about Batoum not being so necessary for us as it had for- 
merly seemed. Something like disgust with the Eastern Question. 
Talk about getting the thing finished anyhow.' 

'* This curious laconic register, though far from complete, is 
pretty correct so far as it goes." 

We insert this as a curious instance of the fickleness of the 
popular mind. He who lives to win the approbation of the pub- 
he, even should he gain it, should set but small store by it, for it 
is as changeful as the wind, and altogether as unsubstantial. 
The multitude one day cried concerning our Saviour, " Hosanna, 
hosanna ! " and ere the week was ended, they as lustily shouted, 
*' Crucify Him, crucify Him ! " The apostles at Lystra found them- 
selves at one moment in danger of being worshipped as gods; but 
the mistake did not last long, for the people stoned them before 
the sun had set. The many- headed cry first this thing, and then 
another : *' unstable as water," they rush to extremes. The war 
upon which they enter with enthusiasm will ^either close with 
curses at the bloodshed it has entailed, or else it will end with 
illuminations intended to welcome the return of peace which they 
broke with so light a heart. 

Let those who pride themselves upon the applause of the 
multitude see the worthlessness of the mere vapor for which they 
spend themselves. Blessed is he whose life is ruled by the will of 
God, and whose highest ambition is acceptance with the Most 
High through Jesus Christ His Son. His is an immortal and 
immutable inheritance, a crown of life which fadeth not away. 
Is the reader living wholly unto God? Then he shall not know 
the disappointment of those who put their trust in the sons of 
men, in whom is no strength. But hunters after popularity and 
aspirants for fame will do well to consider whether the mirage is 
worth their notice, or the will-o'-the-wisp worthy of their pursuit. 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 509 



BLAME THE SCALE-MAKER* 

"The Wjoman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." — Gen. iii. 13. 
•' Every man shall bear his own burden." — Gal. vi. 5. 

The '' South London Press," June 22, reports the following, 
among a number of other cases of unjust weights and measures: 
" A. B., cheesemonger. One machine. Defe7idant said Jie paid a 
scale-maker \os. 6d. to attend to it, ajtd the neglect was his. The 
chairman said one of the first things defendant should have 
attended to was the correctness of his scales and weights. Fined 
£1. Defendant thought the scale-maker ought to pay the fine. 
The clerk : * We look to you ; we have nothing to do with the 
scale-maker.' " 

National law is based upon the principle of personal responsi- 
bility, and it will not allow a transgressor to escape by pleading 
that he has shifted the burden of duty upon another. If in any 
cases responsibility could be transferred, it surely should be under 
the circumstances before us ; but the law knows nothing of scale- 
makers, it deals with traders ; and if anything be wrong with scales 
or weights it does not hold the shopkeeper guiltless, but visits the 
wrong upon hijn, even though he may have employed a person to 
keep his weights in order. This course appears to be severe, but 
it is both just and necessary; there would be no securit}^ for the 
purchaser, nor indeed for government itself, if the essential prin- 
ciple of personal responsibility could be departed from, Every 
man must bear his own burden. 

Yet this truth is too often put into the background. In religion 
men have often acted as if they had altogether forgotten that it 
must of necessity be strictly personal. We hear of sponsors 
promising and vowing no end of things, and of priests performing 
service and doing the devotions of others. Proxies, however, in 
such matters are a sheer delusion ; all true religion is a personal 
thing; men sin personally, and they must personally repent of 



5IO LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

that sin, or personally bear the guilt of it. No man can receive 
the new birth on behalf of another, nor can another man's faith 
excuse us from believing in Jesus. Sanctification is not a boon 
to be vicariously received, any more than heaven can be vica- 
riously enjoyed. A man may fancy that he pays a priest or a 
minister to do his religion for him, just as the tradesman paid the 
scale-maker; but the law does not recognize the transaction, it 
deals with principals only. We cannot leave our heavenly busi- 
ness in the hands of a clergyman as we place our secular affairs in 
the hands of a lawyer; we must believe in Jesus Christ on our 
own account, or judgment will go against us. It is true that in 
the matter of our justification before God we have been redeemed 
by the blood of our Substitute, and are accepted in His imputed 
righteousness; but in the practical application of the blessiAgs 
thus procured everything must be direct and personal. Another 
may procure us food, but he cannot eat or digest it for us : Jesus 
has become our bread from heaven, but we must individually 
partake of Him if we would live for ever. Another may bring us 
a candle, but we cannot see the light except with our own vision, 
•— nay more, even the Sun of Righteousness makes no man to see 
except by his own eyes. 

Never, then, let us leave our doctrinal views to be settled for us 
by the Church, but let us search the Scriptures for ourselves; let 
us not derive our peace and confidence from the good opinion ot 
our pastor and the deacons, but aim at attaining a full assurance 
of our calling and election by the seal of the Spirit upon our own 
hearts ; neither let us leave the work of the Lord to be discharged 
by others, but honestly render our fair share of the service. We 
must ask for grace to see to our own scales, and cease to leave to 
the scale-maker a matter which is altogether our own concern. 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 51I 



DESERTERS. 

" Will ye also go away?" — John vi. 67. 

"Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." — 2 TiM. iv. 10. 

The " Daily News " of June 22, in an article upon the char- 
acter of the men in the British army, says : " One great cause of 
misconduct is that few men enlist deliberately, but rather take the 
shilling as a means, of escaping temporary trouble of some sort. 
Either a man is temporarily out of work, or he has a quarrel 
with his sweetheart, or he wishes for a while to keep out of the 
way of the police. Comparatively rarely does he become a sol- 
dier from a conviction that it is an honorable mode of earning a 
living, and that there are some extremely good prizes to be won. 
Hence speedy repentance, and if he is unable to purchase his 
discharge he will frequently in desperation steal, so openly that he 
must be discovered, some, to him, useless article, such as a broom 
or one boot." 

It seems, then, that very much depends upon the manner of the 
enlistment of soldiers, and we are quite sure that with young con- 
verts everything depends upon the reason for their enrolment in 
the army of Christ. If they merely come to Christ because they 
are under some temporary alarm of soul, and not because they are 
heartily convinced of the error of their ways, they will probably 
desert from the standard of the cross as soon as the temporary 
pressure of natural conviction is removed. The awakening ser- 
mon is forgotten, the alarming providence is over, the eloquent 
revivalist has gone to another town, and the superficial converts 
regret that they ever made a profession of religion, and under one 
pretext or another they slide away. How well it is that our young 
friends should count the cost and understand what they are doing, 
and then should deliberately and heartily cast in their lot with the 
people of God. They must be convinced that to be a Christian is 
right and honorable, and for their own eternal good ; they must also 
be assured that the cause is one of truth and righteousness, and 



512 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

that in It lies all their hope of eternal salvation, — they must, in a 
word, be renewed in the spirit of their minds, or they will soon be 
the prey of temptation, and the Church will be filled with alarm at 
the large number of deserters. 

Our Lord was always anxious that men should be saved, but 
He was never in a hurry to gather nominal disciples. When the 
scribe said to Him, ** Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever 
Thou goest," He did not reply, as many of us would have done, 
with a pressing invitation and an enthusiastic welcome ; but He 
was far more wise in His procedure, for He replied, *' The foxes 
have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but I, the Son of 
man, have not where to lay My head." He put before him the 
poverty of the Captain and the hard fare of the soldier. When 
the multitude thronged around Him, He did not commence taking 
their names, enrolling them as His converts, and counting heads 
in order to publish astounding statistics, but, on the contrary. He 
sifted them with words like these : *' Verily, verily, I say unto you, 
ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did 
eat of the loaves, and were filled." The recruiting-sergeants of 
her Majesty's army are so anxious to get hold of the men that 
they are not scrupulous as to the arguments they use. Drink is 
freely given, the soldier's condition is set forth in rosy colors, and 
the young man is cajoled and seduced into a way of life which he 
would not have thoughtfully chosen ; but it must not be so among 
us. We may not repel any man who wishes to join our ranks, but 
we may not persuade men and women to make a hasty profession, 
and take the name of Christian upon them to please their friends. 
The door must not be closed with lock and key, but there must be 
a porter to open it, in order that the sheep, and not the goats, may 
go in and out and find pasture. Since the porter himself may 
be readily deceived, it is every man-s personal responsibility to see 
that he enters with his heart and soul into the Church of God, 
if he does enter at all ; and it is at his own peril that he dares to 
intrude unworthily or insincerely into the fold of Christ. 

A profession carelessly made will soon be dishonorably aban- 
doned. We know who it was that said : *' They went out from us, 
but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us, they would 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 513 

no doubt have continued with us : but they went out, that they 
might be made manifest that they were not all of us." He who 
wrote these words was of a loving nature, and never formed a 
harsh judgment, and therefore from his verdict we conclude that 
the backslidings and apostasies which weaken the visible Church 
of Christ are caused by a want of reality at the comm.encement 
of the religious life. There was no root, and therefore the plant 
withered when the sun was risen with burning heat. There was 
no call to the soldier's life, or the reputed warrior of the Cross 
would not have so shamefully deserted the colors. Hence the 
stern necessity of our being careful in examining all candidates, 
and honest in warning them of their responsibilities. 

*' Have ye counted the cost, 
Have ye counted the cost. 
Ye warriors of the Cross ? 
Are ye fixed in heart, for your Master's sake, 

To suffer all earthly loss ? 
Can ye bear the scoff of the worldly-wise, 

As ye pass by Pleasure's bower 
To watch with your Lord on the mountain-top 
Througli the weary midnight hour ? 

" Do ye answer, ' We can,' 
Do ye answer, ' We can,' 
Through His love's constraining power ? 
But do ye remember the flesh is weak, 

And shrinks in the trial hour ? 
Yet yield to His hand who around you now 

The cords of a man would cast, 
The bands of His love who was smitten for you. 
To the altar binding you fast. 

" In the power of His might, 
In the power of His might. 
Who was made through weakness strong, 
Ye shall overcome in the fearful fight, 

And sing His victory song. 
But count ye the cost, yea, count ye the cost, — 

The forsaking all ye have. 
Then take up your cross and follow your Lord, 
Not thinking your life to save." 

33 



514 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



THE BEST PREPARATION FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. 

"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like 
unto men that wait for their Lord." — Luke xii. 35, 36. 

The '' Daily Telegraph " has a leading article commencing as 
follows : — 

" There is a well-known story in New England which relates that 
about a century ago a day of remarkable gloom and darkness 
overspread the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut, — a day 
still spoken of in local histories as ' the dark day,' when the light 
of the sun was slowly extinguished as if by an eclipse. The legis- 
lature of Connecticut happened at th^t moment to be in session, 
and, to quote an American writer, 'As its members saw the unex- 
pected and unaccountable darkness coming on, they shared in the 
general awe and' terror. It was supposed by many that the Last 
Day — the Day of Judgment — had come, and in the consterna- 
tion of the hour some member moved the adjournment of the 
House. Then straightway there arose an old Puritan legislator, 
Davenport of Stamford, and said that if the Last Day had come, 
he desired to be found in his place and doing his duty; for which 
reasons he moved that candles should be brought, so that the 
House might proceed with its debate." 

This Davenport of Stamford was a wise man. What could the 
other senators have suggested which would be equally suitable for 
the occasion? If it had been the Last Day, would they have been 
more ready for it if they had gone to their homes and waited there 
in idleness? Would it have been more seemly to have rushed 
into the street, and to have stood there with gaping mouths look- 
ing upward to the sky? What was better than being ready for 
whatever might happen, and waiting at the post of duty? W^e 
believe firmly in the second advent of Christ, and in the grand fact 
that He may come at such an hour as we think not; but what 
of that? What is the practical use of the revelation? Are we 
to forego matters of immediate concern in order to pry into the 



THE BIBLE AND THE NEWSPAPER. 515 

impenetrable darkness of the future? Are we to make ourselves 
into mere star-gazers and prognosticators? Are we to spend our 
time in idle wonder, concluding that every time we hear of wars 
and rumors of wars, and read of earthquakes in divers places, it is 
an infallible token that the end of the world is near? Why, there 
have been wars and rumors of wars, and all the other signs, a score 
of times, and yet the world wags on at its usual rate. No ; rather 
let us give ourselves up more entirely to the pressing demands of 
our Lord's household; let us bring out of His storehouse things 
new and old, continue to feed our fellow-servants, and welcome 
home the wanderers ; and then, whether the Master come at cock- 
crow or at midnight, it will signify little enough to us. We shall 
welcome Him whenever He comes, and He will meet us with joy, 
for " blessed is that servant whom his Lord when He cometh shall 
find so doing." 

Master Davenport of Stamford doubtless had a solid confidence 
in the Lord Jesus ; his faith had fixed itself upon His first advent, 
and received the salvation which Jesus came to bring ; and there- 
fore, delivered from all trepidation and alarm, he did not share in 
the general terror, nor draw inferences of alarm from the unex- 
pected and unaccountable darkness. The heavens might fall, but 
he dwelt above the heavens, and in quietness and assurance was 
his strength. Moreover, the good man possessed a faith which 
manifested itself by works ; his business was his religion, and 
religion was his business. He believed he was called of God to 
sit in the legislature of Connecticut, and therefore there he sat; he 
only wanted candles, that he might see what he was at. He was 
doing what was right, he was there to vote for justice and truth, 
and if his Master had come, he would have risen from his seat and 
said, ** Here I am, in the place Thou wouldst have me to occupy." 
We remember once calling upon one of our members, a sister who 
managed her household with discretion. She was in humble cir- 
cumstances, and when we stopped opposite her house she was 
whitening the front steps. She rose from her pail, and apologized 
for being found with her sleeves up ; but we begged her to make 
no excuse, for she was doing her duty, and we earnestly hoped 
that when our Lord should come He would find us in the same 



5l6 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

condition. If she had known we were coming, it is just possible 
she would have put on her best gown, and have been waiting in 
the little parlor ; but we should not have been one half as charmed 
with her prepared appearance as with the exhibition of her every- 
day industry. The most fitting condition for death and for judg- 
ment is to be diligent in the Master's business, fervent in spirit, 
serving the Lord. The times are very dark : bring in the candles, 
and let the House proceed with the present business. 

Thus we close, wishing our readers to remember the words of 
Him who so shortly shall appear: " Behold, I come quickly; and 
My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work 
shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the 
first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, 
that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city." 




't/Lue> .^^.f^^^^^^ 



XXIX. 
MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 



Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at flood-tide ; cover 
all my powers, drown all my sins, sweep away all my cares, lift up my earth- 
bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor 
broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value, and only ven- 
turing to whisper to Him that, if He will put His ear to me. He will hear within 
faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it 
is my delight to lie, even at His feet for ever. — C. H. Spurgeon. 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 



WE have always recoiled from pronouncing fulsome eulogies 
upon any worthy persons engaged In serving the Church 
of Jesus Christ ; and every right-minded man and woman shrinks 
from that form of adulation which Is akin to flattery. Mr. Spur- 
geon has had his share of praise and blame, but has been gra- 
ciously kept Independent of both. Happy Is the man who takes 
no heed to the " flatterer," and is alike Impervious to the shafts 
of venom shot by a jealous hand. 

Mrs. Spurgeon, like her noble husband, would fain have the 
crown of praise placed on the brow of Jesus, and glory be given 
to Him for the work she has been permitted to do. Like the 
model virtuous woman sketched by the wise man, " she stretcheth 
out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to 
the needy. . . . She looketh well to the ways of her household, and 
eateth not the bread of Idleness. Her children arise up, and call 
her blessed ; her husband also, and he pralseth her." The work 
which this amiable lady has so successfully originated and main- 
tained Is worthy of emulation on the part of Christian women, 
whose employment, alas, too often. Is that of " killing time." 

Mrs. Spurgeon has been a constant sufferer, unable to parti- 
cipate In the great schemes of benevolence connected with her 
husband's labors, yet from her quiet chamber she has personally 
procured and directed tens of thousands of books to needy pas- 
tors, whose libraries were in great need of her generous donations. 
Besides, she supervises a private and humble mission, which sends 
clothing to their poorly clad children and suffering wives. Dorcas- 



520 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

like, she labors for the poor, and her work is wisely planned, 
managed with economy, and precious in its results. The life of 
this dear afflicted lady is fragrant with benevolence ; many homes 
are made glad as the results of her toil. 

Her peculiar ministry has the hearty commendation of her hus- 
band, and his most prayerful sympathy; in him she finds a wise 
counsellor, and a true friend to the poor pastors whose need and 
trials become the objects of her sympathy and solace. Through 
him she has received much material help, and every encourage- 
ment in the prosecution of her self-imposed task. Thus he 
writes : - — 

" How deep is our own interest in Mrs. Spurgeon's most useful 
and needful work we need scarcely tell ; we trust that our readers 
will feel a measure of the same sympathy, and exhibit it in tangi- 
ble form. A famine of books to a teacher of others is almost as 
distressing as want of bread. Want of good books has, we doubt 
not, tended greatly to impoverish the ministries of many preach- 
ers. How could they fill the minds of others when they had no 
food for their own? " 

From one of Mrs. Spurgeon's yearly reports we cull the fol- 
lowing: — 

The Book Fund makes grants to poor pastors of every evan- 
gelical denomination who are in actual charge, wholly devoted to 
the ministry, and whose income from all sources does not exceed 
$750 per annum. 

These grants consist of seven or eight volumes, and usually 
comprise the " Treasury of David," or some of Mr. Spurgeon's 
sermons, — not to the exclusion of other books, but chiefly be- 
cause they are the works most sought after by applicants to the 
fund ; and I am not afraid or ashamed to say it, because I know 
I could not, with the slender means at my command, give any 
more precious or more helpful. There are several special books 
for ministers which I would at once add to my list if friends who 
wish for their circulation would supply me with the means. 

Poor ministers are the rule, not the exception : they are not 
restricted to the Baptist denomination or to our own land, but 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 521 

abound in every connection and in all climes; their needs are 
very urgent, their prospects seldom brighten, and their ranks 
never seem to thin. My work for them is as great a necessity 
now as it was at its commencement, — nay, I think its importance 
has increased with its extension, the latent thirst for knowledge 
has been developed by its gifts, and a keener appetite for mental 
food has been produced by the provision it has furnished. I need 
not enlarge on the absolute necessity which exists for a minister 
to possess books, if he would be an efficient teacher and preacher: 
the mind which is itself not fed cannot very long feed others : but 
I would point out the impossibility of procuring these essential 
helps and appliances when a man has to provide for himself and a 
wife and family on a pittance of $300, $400, or $500 per annum. 

To such weary "workers with a slender apparatus" my Book 
Fund stretches forth a helping hand : it fills the empty basket 
with tools, gives a key to a well-stocked storehouse, replenishes 
an exhausted brain, supphes ammunition for the combat with evil, 
makes sunshine in shady places, and by God's own blessing does 
a vast amount of good wherever its gifts are scattered. 

It is the joy of my life thus to serve the servants of my Master, 
and the daily blessings and tender providences which surround my 
work are more precious to me than words can express. Some 
of the subjects of my thankfulness may seem small and incon- 
siderable to others, but to me they are of constant interest and 
importance. My retired life shuts out the usual pleasures of 
social intercourse, but opens wide a world of glad delight in thus 
" ministering to the necessities of the saints." I have scores of 
friends with whose circumstances I am intimately acquainted, yet 
whose faces I have never looked upon. I hope to know and greet 
them on the ** other shore; " and meanwhile their love and prayers 
are a sweet reward for such pleasant service as the Lord enables 
me to render to them. In these pages will be found some of the 
expressive outpourings of grateful hearts, and though the letters 
here given form but a small portion of the great mass of affection- 
ate correspondence connected with the fund, they will serve to 
reveal some of the daily comfort and encouragement I receive 
through this channel. Ah, if by His grace we can but win from 



522 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

our Master the approving words, " Ye did it unto me," the joy of 
service is then only '* a httle lower " than the supreme fehcity of 
heaven ! . . . 

The following tenderly kind little note contains such a testimony 
to the value of the Book Fund that I am tempted to give it, even 
though I have to include its unmerited commendation of my own 
small service : — 

'' My dear Mrs. Spurgeon, — Please accept the enclosed mite 
toward the Book Fund. If it please God, may you long be spared 
to carry on this great and blessed work, which has been sancti- 
fied to the good of so many of the Lord's servants, and through 
them to so many of His people. Surely this must redound to the 
praise and glory of the Lord Jesus, whose we are and whom we 
serve. I believe, dear Mrs. Spurgeon, that every day there* is 
praise ascending to Almighty God for the blessings many have 
received through the books you have been enabled to send, and 
also through the encouraging little notes you write. I have to 
thank God for two or three of those little notes, and oh, how pre- 
cious they are ! I shall ever treasure them, for they have been 
made a means of great blessing to my soul. May God's richest 
blessing continue to rest upon you ; may you be sustained by 
grace divine when called upon to suffer and endure; if it be in 
accordance with God's will, may you be relieved from pain alto- 
gether. Perhaps this may never be on this side Jordan. How 
precious you must have found those words, '' My grace is suffi- 
cient for thee." Good Matthew Henry says that if God is pleased 
to lay a heavy burden upon us at any time, and yet fits the shoul- 
der to the burden, we certainly can have no reason to complain, 
however heavy the cross may be. Is not this true? I pray that 
all the strength and grace you need may be given from on high, 
supplied by a loving Father out of- His riches in glory by Christ 
Jesus." 

To ministers who are not quite so necessitous as those for whom 
the Book Fund was specially founded, yet who can ill spare the 
published price of the ** Treasury of David," or the sermons, I 
off*er these books at a somewhat reduced rate, and I have much 
satisfaction in knowing that the privilege is warmly appreciated. 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 523 

The following letters are fair samples of the spirit in which the 
favor is sought, and the warm gratitude evoked by its accordance : 

" My DEAR Mrs. Spurgeon, — In the libraries of my friends I 
have very frequently perused that most choice and savory work of 
your husband, 'The Treasury of David; ' and if I have not actu- 
ally incurred the guilt of breaking the tenth commandment, I fear 
I have come near to doing so, and from time to time I have been 
looking how I could contrive to purchase it, but have found as 
often that my income has been forestalled by family and other 
claims. I have long known that you have been doing a most 
valuable work for the Master by helping poor pastors to some 
good books, but hitherto I have not ventured to write, lest I 
should be standing in the way of some brother more necessitous 
even than myself. This week, however, I was in the library of 
one of my brethren, and again looking over some parts of the 
'Treasury,' the desire to possess it for myself returned with such 
strength that I felt somev/hat as I suppose a hungry ox would feel 
tethered outside, but just in sight of, a luxuriant field of clover. 
After ruminating over the matter again and again, I came to the 
conclusion that I could manage part of the price, so I have deter- 
mined to say to you that I should esteem it a great favor indeed 
to receive a copy from your hands, if I shall not stand too much 
in the way of some other poor brother." 

It was, indeed, a great joy to open the gate of the clover field. 
May the good brother '' go in and out and find pasture." 

On the same subject a pastor in one of our great Midland towns 
writes : — 

" I note In your little report that when an applicant is able to 
purchase, books are sent on the most advantageous terms. Now 
I hope from time to time to be able to purchase a volume of the 
sermons, whose true gospel ring is indeed music to one's soul. 
Will you kindly jot down on enclosed post-card the price at which 
I might get the sermons through your hands, so that I may know 
what to lay by from time to time, in order to add to my store? I 
am almost ashamed to trouble you so soon after receiving so much 
from you, but I am hungry for books, and cannot help it." 

There is also a goodly number of workers for the Lord, — evan- 



524 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

gelists, local preachers, and others, — who, having no pastorate, 
are ineligible for the free gift of the " Treasury," yet covet earn- 
estly this precious aid in their work. Many of these save up a 
little money, and sending it to me by degrees, have in time the 
joy of receiving the longed-for treasure, which, doubtless, they 
value none the less for the self-denial which has procured it. I 
often regret that I cannot give books to all Christian workers ; but 
a strict boundary line is absolutely necessary in a work carried on, 
not by a society, but by one pair of hands, and those not over 
strong or capable. 

To-day $1000 is mine from the great Testimonial Fund raised 
last Christmas ; $500 is allotted to the Book Fund, and $500 to 
the Pastors' Aid Society. My dear husband's kindness secures 
this splendid help to my work, and I bless God both for him and 
his delightful gift. If John Ploughman's wife might say here 
what she thinks of John in this and all other matters, it would be 
an easy task to fill these pages with his praises; but since such a 
w4fely eulogy might be deemed out of place, Mrs. J. P. may at 
least record in her little book her hearty and appreciative thanks 
to the hundreds of true friends who have lately done honor to the 
" Prince of her life," ^ and furnished him with the means of more 
abundantly blessing all the poor and needy ones who look to him 
as their best earthly friend and comforter. If I knew any one who 
doubted the truth of that Scripture, " There is that scattereth and 
yet increaseth," I could bring no more unanswerable proof of its 
veracity than is found in the unselfish life and loving deeds of the 
God-honored man I reverence as my head and husband. I find a 
graceful appropriateness in the gift of part of this money to Bap- 
tist pastors, seeing that to one of themselves the whole magnificent 
sum is ofi'ered as a tribute of devoted admiration and love. What a 
joy it will be to use this consecrated gold in their service ! What 
heavy burdens it will lift ! What aching hearts will be consoled ! 
What praise to God will be given by joyful lips ! When I think 
of all it will do, I wish it were ten times as much ! I get greedy 
for their sakes, — my poor, weary, toiling brethren, — but that 
only lasts a moment, for indeed I am most fully "satisfied with 
favor" on their behalf, both from the Lord and from man. 
1 Name for Mr. Spurgeon suggested by a Welshman. 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 525 

I have been very pleased during this year to see my work extend 
among the poorly paid curates of the Church of England, and I 
trust a great blessing will follow the introduction into their libra- 
ries of such books as the " Treasury," the sermons, and " Lectures 
to my Students." These gifts are sought with avidity and wel- 
comed with eager joy, and of all the pleasant letters which I 
receive none are more courteous in spirit or graceful in language 
than those penned by clergymen of the Established Church. 

** Two years ago," writes one, " you presented me with the 
' Treasury of David,' expressing a wish that it might prove a 
* treasure ' indeed. Your wish has been more than gratified, and 
now I have an acute appetite for the whole of your respected hus- 
band's works. I have the privilege of preaching the gospel five 
times every week, and if this is to continue to be a pleasure to me, 
I must keep my soul and mind well fed. Being still ^ a poor 
curate,' I have to supply my wants on the lowest terms, so I write 
to ask whether, in gratifying my ardent desire, any assistance may 
be obtained from that source of benevolence which formerly sup- 
plied the ' Treasury of David.' " 

My readers will be rejoiced to learn that, with some little help 
from the Book Fund, this clergyman has now on his shelves a 
complete set of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, in addition 
to the " Treasury of David " and some smaller works of Mr. 
Spurgeon's. 

October 4. — Truly this has been a " red-letter day " in Book- 
Fund experience. " My mouth has been filled with laughter, and 
my tongue with singing." My heart praises and extols the good- 
ness of the Lord, and my hand shall at once record the mercy 
which, like a blessed rain on a thirsty land, has so sweetly refreshed 
my spirit. This afternoon a constant and generous friend brought 
$500 for the Book Fund. This was cause for devout thankfulness 
and great joy, for lately an unusually large number of books has 
been going out week by week, though funds have flowed in less 
freely. But it was not till a few hours after receiving this noble 
donation that I saw fully the Lord's tender care and pitying love 
in sending me this help just when He knew I should most sorely 
need it. By the late post that night came my quarterly account 



526 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

for books, and so heavy was it, that in fear and haste I turned to 
my ledger to see the available balance, and with an emotion I shall 
not easily forget I found that but for the gift of $500 a few hours 
previously I should have been $300 in debt. 

Did not the Father's care thus keep the sparrow from falling to 
the ground? A sleepless night and much distress of spirit would 
have resulted from my discovery of so serious a deficit in my 
funds, but the Lord's watchful love prevented this. " Before I 
called He answered," and though trouble was not very distant, He 
had said, " It shall not come nigh thee." O my soul, bless thou 
the Lord, and forget not this His loving *' benefit" ! A tumult of 
joy and delight arose within me as I saw in this incident, not a 
mere chance, or a happy combination of circumstances, but the 
guiding and sustaining hand of the loving Lord, who had mo'st 
certainly arranged and ordered for me this pleasant way of com- 
fort and relief. " I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh 
upon me." A fresh revelation of His wonderful love seemed to 
be vouchsafed to my soul by this opportune blessing, and a cheque 
became *' an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual 
grace." I hastened to my dear husband, that he might share my 
joy, and I found in him a willing listener to the sweet ** old story " 
of his Master's grace and power. Then, after a word or two of fer- 
vent praise to God on my behalf, he wrote the following letter to 
the friend by whose liberal hand our gracious God had sent this 
notable deliverance : — 

'' Dear Friend, — I should like you to know why you were 
sent here this afternoon, and what an angel of mercy you were to 
my dear wife, and so to me. The Lord bless you. Soon after 
you were gone, my wife's quarter's bill for books came in for 
$1,700, and she had only $1,400 apart from your cheque. Poor 
soul, she has never spent more than her income before, and if you 
had not come, I fear it would have crushed her to be $300 in debt. 
How good of the Lord to send you in the nick of time ! We 
joined our praises together, and we do also very gratefully join 
our prayers for you. God bless you, and make up to you your 
generous gifts above all your own desires. I could not refrain 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 52/ 

from telling you this : it is one of the sparkling facts which will 
make happy memories to help to stay our faith in future trials if 
they come. Again, God bless you. Yours heartily, 

C. H. Spurgeon. 

"^ As part of the proceeds of his last lecture in London, I have 
the pleasure of receiving to-day $125 as the generous and graceful 
gift of Mr. John B. Gough to the Book Fund. Such a gift from such 
a man is precious and noteworthy, but not unusual, as I believe 
it is the constant habit of Mr. Gough to bestow blessings as well as 
to recommend them. Long as his name has been honored in our 
household, and his special work admired and appreciated, it was 
not till his recent visit to England that we had the happiness of 
his personal acquaintance. Now he has been twice to see us 
(once accompanied by his excellent wife), and a friendship has 
been contracted between us which, though interrupted by absence 
from each other on earth, will find its true fruition and best enjoy- 
ment in heaven. The hours we spent in his company have left 
fragrant memories not only of pleasant mirth at the droll tales so 
inimitably told, but also of sacred joy in sweet and goodly words 
which " ministered grace unto the hearers." Cannot my friends 
imagine that it was a rare treat to listen to the converse of John 
Ploughman and John Gough? 

No " pen of a ready writer " was there to record the good things 
they said, or to immortalize the brilliant '' table talk" which graced 
each repast; but the sweet communion which knit our hearts 
together will never be forgotten by us, and so deep a flood of 
enjoyment came in upon my usually quiet life that day,' that it will 
for ever ripple pleasantly upon the shores of memory. To our 
very dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Gough, in their far-away home in 
the West, I send loving greeting; and for this $125, which means 
so much joy and comfort for the Lord's poor servants, I give the 
warmest thanks of a grateful heart. . . . 

Two dear ladies brought me $250 to use in the Lord's work as 
I please. What bountiful kindness, its preciousness enhanced by 
my necessity ! I divided it between the Book Fund and the Pas- 
tors' Aid, for in these times of universal pressure I can scarcely 



528 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

confine my gifts to books in those cases where I know that, though 
the daily bread is sure, it is often unaccompanied by more sub- 
stantial nourishment. It was only the other day I heard of a 
minister whose last Christmas dinner was to have consisted of 
a loaf and steak, because he could not afford better fare ; and I 
know many whose most creditable fear of debt compels them not 
only to keep their bookshelves empty, but the cupboard very 
bare. One ceases to wonder at the oft-recurring sickness of many 
ministers' wives, and the extreme delicacy of their children, when 
one remembers their many privations, their lack of nourishing 
food, and their need of suitable clothing. ** My income barely 
enables me to find plain food and scanty clothing for my wife and 
three children," writes a country Independent pastor. *' Frequently 
I have saved a few shillings with the view of purchasing a volume 
of the ' Treasury,' but a pair of shoes or a httle dress put the book 
aside." In this last matter of clothing for pastors' families there is ' 
very much now being done by kind friends for their relief. I have 
elsewhere mentioned the many presents I receive for them, and 
to-day (mercies never come singly) a large chest arrived from 
Scotland containing the wardrobes of two deceased gentlemen, 
sent by the desolate wife and mother. It has been a somewhat 
sad work to allot this valuable gift to seven needy pastors, but 
their joy in receiving the good warm clothes will not be damped 
by any sorrowful remembrances of departed friends, and I rejoice 
beforehand in their joy. ... 

Coming now to the conclusion of these sadly irregular chroni- 
cles, I should like to promise — if the Lord spare my life and 
prosper the Book Fund — to do better next year. The ''happy 
thought," if it be a happy one, of reporting this little service in 
'' diary-fashion," ought to be more satisfactorily carried out, and I 
hope to gather more discreetly and carefully the material to be 
used at the close of the year 1880. Experience has taught me 
that there is sure to be a fulness of goodness and mercy to supply 
the record ; but the same teacher sadly proves to me that the 
" recorder " fails and is at fault in not keeping her '' book of re- 
membrance " well posted up. But what memory can keep pace 
with God's mercies? or what uninspired pen can tell the thou- 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 529 

sandth part of His loving-kindnesses? "If I should count them 
they are more in number than the sand." Could I cull the choicest 
flowers of language, and bind them in one delightful bundle of 
thankfulness, it might be an acceptable offering of gratitude to the 
dear friends who have helped me ; but how can I worthily praise 
and extol the bounty of my gracious, loving God? ** Thou hast 
dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy Word." 
Blessed be Thy narne, Thou hast daily loaded me with benefits, 
Thy hand has supplied all my need. Thy strength has been made 
perfect in my weakness. Thy loving care has watched over my 
work, and " there hath not failed one word of all Thy good prom- 
ise " " upon which Thou hast caused me to hope," And what can 
I say more unto Thee? ''Is this the manner of man, O Lord 
God? " Oh, poor dumb lips, that cannot speak His praise aright ! 
Oh, faltering tongue, that as yet cannot " frame to pronounce " 
the syllables of heaven's own language ! 

" How shall I praise Him ? Seraphs, when they bring 
The homage of their lyre, 
Veil their bright face beneath their wing, 
And tremble and retire. 

" Lost in thy love, yet full of humble trust, 
I close the worthless lay, 
Bow down my reverent forehead in the dust, 
And in meek silence pray." 

Truly there are times when silence is more eloquent than speech, 
and we are constrained to worship *' afar off" from very awe of 
His goodness. Such a season comes to me now as I sit ponder- 
ing over all the Lord's marvellous loving-kindness ; and looking 
back on the great and manifold mercies of the fast-closing year, 
my spirit is overwhelmed within me, the weight of blessing seems 
almost too much for me, and I lay aside my poor useless pen to 
bow the knee before Him in silent adoration and thanksgiving. 
" I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the 
truth which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant." . 

The following pathetic lines from .Mr. Spurgeon show how these 
devoted servants of Christ toil on even when compassed with many 
infirmities : — 

34 



530 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Should there be errors in the notes, or in. acknowledgment of 
goods, or in aught besides, it is hoped and believed that the edi- 
tor's ill-health will be a sufficient apology. We have done our 
best; but with a pained and wearied brain, which is the root of 
our malady, we cannot but fail in many ways. 

Mrs. Spurgeon has been passing through a very grievous time 
of pain and weakness, and therefore has felt quite unequal to 
writing a report. Gladly would we have undertaken it for her, 
but we have been laid aside also. The Book Fund is becrinninsf 
to be four years old, and is entering, we hope, upon a still more 
useful existence. Its need, its urgent need, among poor ministers 
appears more sadly every day. It is true that pastors ought to be 
sufficiently paid to be able to buy books for themselves, but so 
long as they are not it is a good and needful work to find them 
brain food. A blessing has rested upon Mrs. Spurgeon's distribu- 
tion of books, for the recipients have written again and again to 
acknowledge the invigoration and the reviving received through 
the volumes. The hearts of others have also been stirred up to 
think upon the great evil of ministerial poverty, and books have 
been spontaneously given which otherwise would not have filled 
the pastors' shelves. More nioney was received last year, and 
more given, and the poor suffering worker had yet strength suffi- 
cient, as she hopes to have for another year. It would grieve her 
much if friends supposed that the work might slacken on account 
of her illness. She asks for continued remembrance in their 
prayers. . . . 

Mrs. Spurgeon has for som^e time been largely occupied with 
supplying books to clergymen of the Church of England whose 
stipends are too small to allow them to purchase them. The 
amount of kindly feeling which has been expressed is very 
pleasing, and we regard this opportunity of spreading evangelical 
truth as a peculiarly valuable one, which should be largely used. 
Keeping watch at home all alone, our beloved finds great solace 
in the kindly words of friends who send her help for her chosen 
life-work. Its present interesting phase should command the 
prayers and sympathies of all our friends. . . . 

Our dear wife's Report has sold so well that it has been need- 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 531 

ful to print a second edition. Many have written to say that 
its perusal has been a means of grace to them ; they could not 
have said anything more cheering. The little book can still be 
had of our publishers for sixpence. 

Her work in helping poor ministers is specially needful at this 
time, for the depression in the agricultural interest has rendered 
it very difficult for village churches to support their ministers. 
Small salaries have to be cut down, and many men of God are left 
with incomes below starvation point. Let all be doubly generous 
in this hour of need. ... 

The needful work of supplying ministers with books pro- 
ceeds with great regularity, and considerable numbers of curates 
and poor ministers in the Church of England, together with 
pastors of all denominations, apply for " The Treasury of David," 
and other works. Could our readers see the letters of thanks, 
they would know how sharp is the book-hunger which gnaws 
the soul of many a preacher of the Word. We have said 
very little of late about this work which is carried on by our 
beloved. Only a few friends have thought of the Fund of late, 
and yet hitherto there has been no lack ; the Fund personified 
might almost say, " I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh 
upon me." Note the following fact, and let the Lord be glorified 
by the rehearsal of it. A friend of ours, who is always a princely 
giver, told us on the night of Mr. Cough's lecture that he should 
call at Nightingale Lane next day. Knowing his great business 
and our own, we half declined the offer, though we are always 
glad to see him; but he said he should come, and come he did. 
His errand was to give $500 to the Book Fund. Now, reader, 
mark this. Mrs. Spurgeon's quarter's bill for books came in on 
that very Saturday evening, and had not that friend insisted on 
coming down and bringing his $500, our dear one would have 
been $300 in debt. She would have been almost heart-broken 
had this been the case, for she had prayed for help and expected 
it. The Lord would not let her have the trial, but sent His 
steward at the very hour, though he knew nothing of the need. 
We were both filled with adoring thankfulness for this memorable 
interposition. It was not the first time in which we have together 



532 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

adored the Lord ia an amazement of gratitude, nor will it be the 
last. Thus by one and another the Lord has filled up the reser- 
voir which supplies so many of His poor ministers with refresh- 
ment ; and He will fill it yet again. ... 

Mrs. Spurgeon wrote the following, note to her subscribers. 
During the year she has distributed more than seven thousand 
valuable works to poor ministers : — 

My dear Friends, — The past year has been crowned with 
*the goodness of God to me and to my beloved work, and, there- 
fore, I all the more deeply regret that through weakness and 
affliction I have not as yet been able to prepare a detailed account 
of the blessings the Book Fund has received and bestowed. Jhis 
lack of service on my part will, I trust, be soon supplied by a kind 
friend, and a full report of my work shall then be laid before you. 
Meanwhile, I send forth this little messenger to testify to the 
unfailing faithfulness and goodness of the Lord in strengthening 
me for the service which His love has allotted me. 

Sore need have I had for His tender, pitiful care, and He has 
never failed me ; but, in spite of almost constant ill-health. He has 
enabled me to accomplish even an increased amount of work, and 
has extended the benefits of the Book F'und far and wide. To Plis 
name be the praises of my heart. 

From all parts of the world I have abundant testimony to the 
reviving and refreshment of spirit God's ministers receive through 
the quiet agency of this book-giving, and the loving letters of 
grateful hearts are no slight comfort and reward for service often 
done in weariness and pain. 

'' Mr. Spurgeon's works are crammed fall of the good old corn 
of Canaan:" so writes a pastor laboring in Queensland; and I 
count it a high honor that the ''Lord of the harvest" has given me 
charge of so glorious a granary, from whose precious stores I can 
scatter so widely both "seed for the sower and bread for the 
eater." My accounts show that 18,693 volumes have been distrib- 
uted during three years of the Fund's existence. This is a brief, 
bare statement of facts, and does not reveal the joy and blessing 
which lie beneath it; but, thanks be to God, I can truly say that 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 533 

" the administration of this service not only supplieth the want 
of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto 
God." 

My most heartfelt thanks are tendered to you, dear friends, for 
your constant remembrance of my work, the loving interest you 
have taken in its welfare, and the generous help you have given 
to its funds. 

Your gifts are received as '' from the Lord," often coming as 
special answers to prayer, and always as tokens of His favor and 
approval of the work; and when they have thus enriched my 
soul, they carry to the weary, toiling servants of the Master 
substantial blessings, divine luxuries, the worth of which only a 
poor " bookless " pastor can rightly appreciate. 

With a heart full of gratitude to the Lord and to you, believe 
me, dear friends. 

Your deeply obhged servant, 

Su-siE Spurgeon. 

Though barely six years of age, ]\Irs. Spurgeon's Book Fund 
shows all the symptoms of vigorous, healthy life, and among the 
class whom it seeks to benefit, the little institution has naturally 
become one of the most popular in the country. The complete 
catholicity of the superintendent will also command our respect; 
for all evangelical ministers of the Word, whether in the Estab- 
lishment or out of it, are eligible for grants, provided only that 
their average incomes are under $750 a year. Upwards of seven 
thousand volumes have been sent out in the year, besides 6,262 
single sermons ; and while each of the Nonconformist bodies is 
well represented, no less than one hundred and thirty Church of 
England clergymen were among the recipients. The revelations 
of ministerial indigence are sufficiently saddening; but we are 
glad to find that Mrs. Spurgeon also sends money and clothes 
to relieve not a few urgent cases of a more pressing kind. The 
*' Report," to the Christian mind, will be found to be of absorbing 
interest; the style is terse, and every page is pervaded by that fine 
sympathy which is characteristic of the writer. 

A clergyman of the Church of England, writing to Mrs. Spur- 



534 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

geon for a grant of books, says : " Your husband has, by the 
publication of a most useful book, ' Commenting and Commenta- 
ries,' done more than a little in forming my taste and adding to 
my desire for books. This book was my consulting guide while 
at college, and has been of great service to me since in using the 
libraries of friends and in making purchases." 

Mrs. Spurgeon's Report of her " Book Fund and its Work" for 
1 88 1 is a record of practical Christianity. The good service that 
she has rendered to the Christian Church, by providing poor 
pastors with good and helpful books, is in itself incalculable. 
During the six years of its existence the Fund has enabled her to 
distribute 41,630 volumes. The Pastors' Aid Fund is another ad- 
mirable branch of this invalid lady's beneficence, and though for 
good reasons little is said about it, we can very well understand Ihe 
good that it accomplishes in a quiet and delicate way. Not least 
among the many recommendations of this noble enterprise is the 
catholicity of its scope. In days when sectarian rancor often runs 
high, and there is much division in the Christian camp, we cannot 
be too thankful for any agency that obliterates these dividing lines 
by the overflowing tide of sympathy and help. , 

When we state that Mrs. Spurgeon is the president of the Mis- 
sionary W^orking Society, our readers will readily understand how 
a great deal of information about poor pastors is obtained. Her 
Book Fund has made her name a household word wherever needy 
ministers are to be found, but that sweet ministry of love was only 
the natural supplement of this other equally necessary work which 
has been quietly carried on for the last twelve years. It was but 
meet that she who had been so long at the head of a movement 
for supplying the much-needed * cloke ' that should keep out the 
cold, or give the. pastor that respectable appearance which his 
office demanded, should in due time seek to furnish the ' books ' 
which are as indispensable to those who would ' give attendance 
to reading ' as the desired addition to his little library in his prison 
at Rome was to the Apostle Paul. Her long and trying affliction 
has of course prevented the president from actively superintend- 
ing the preparation and distribution of the different parcels, but 
many an applicant could tell that a well-directed hint from her 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 535 

first revealed to him a channel through which the wants of himself 
and his family might be supplied. Here is an extract from one of 
the most recent letters before us : * Mrs. Spurgeon wrote to me 
and said you would kindly and efficiently help me and the chil- 
dren.' It is scarcely necessary to say that the request for help 
received in such a form as this obtained a ready response. Others 
write as follows: 'We are very thankful to dear Mrs. Spurgeon 
for mentioning our names to you.' ' We are unfeignedly grateful 
to the utmost degree to our dear friend, Mrs. Spurgeon, for men- 
tioning our names.' * I feel truly grateful to Mrs. Spurgeon for 
the kind sympathy she has shown towards me and my family in 
recommending our case to your very valuable society.' 

" Any one who goes to the ladies' room at the Tabernacle on 
the Wednesday following the third and fourth Sundays in each 
month can see how heartily our energetic sisters devote their time 
and energies to the holy enterprise of ministering to the wants of 
the Lord's poor servants. We have already stated that their main 
object is to help the families of needy ministers in England by 
sending them suitable parcels of clothing; but their Annual Report, 
issued in May last, informs us that they had also assisted a few of 
the agents of the Tabernacle Colportage Association who have 
been ill. The gratitude with which their gifts were received, and 
the facts that came to light about the straits in which these godly 
men are often placed, induced the committee to determine to let 
them continue to share in the bounty they had to dispense, always 
provided, as our legal friends would say, that the claims of poor 
pastors were satisfied first. This is what they say : * Those who 
are best acquainted with the colporteurs and their work know that 
it is a work which involves much self-sacrifice, and which certainly 
is not overpaid. While we wish to help the colporteurs, we do not 
intend to forget poor ministers. Our labors for them we shall not 
in the least abate. What we ask is that our friends will help us in 
this new development of our society; for without this help is 
given it will be impossible for us to render assistance to those 
hard-working and useful servants of our Master, the colporteurs. 
We are ready for increased labor; our hands are willing, our 
hearts are willing. Let our friends come forward and help us, 



536 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

and thus share with us the joy of pouring gladness into hearts 
which otherwise might have been downcast and sad.' " 

The accompanying extracts from letters received by the society 
reveal what a precious work it is quietly carrying on. A pastor 
writes : — 

'* My income is $6 per week, with a wife and four children. 
Being placed in such an isolated spot, we find the necessaries of 
life very dear, clothing particularly so, although new garments do 
not come often in our way, for things have to be turned and 
altered, and it is often a puzzle to me how my dear wife contrives 
as she does. My best coat was purchased eight years since, so 
that you will think I am not wasteful." 

On receipt of the parcel which was sent to him, he wrote: 
*' The great difficulty now is to know how to thank you 'and 
your helpers. The fact is you ought to have been here, for no 
words of mine can adequately express the joy and gladness that 
were expressed on my wife's face at the sight of the things you 
had so kindly sent us. We both join heartily to thank you and 
your co-workers for the new-year's gift just received; and if you 
have at all felt the force of the truth that it is more blessed to give 
than to receive, then I must say that you are blessed indeed." 

Another pastor writes : *' I cannot tell you how thankful we 
both are to you and to the Ladies' Mission for the very valuable 
parcel you have sent us. Its contents both surprised and delighted 
us; it seemed as though you had overheard my dear wife as she 
had talked with me concerning the many things she absolutely 
needed, but saw no prospect of obtaining. We can scarcely 
realize that our needs have been supplied. Truly our Heavenly 
Father's hand is in the matter, for He knew our needs." 

Another : '* On behalf of my dear wife and myself I write to 
say that we received your large aad valuable parcel this evening. 
It would have done you and the kind friends good to have seen 
the joy of our children as, one after another, the articles were 
unfolded and displayed. Everything, to use my wife's words, was 
exactly what was wanted, and the things you sent for her have 
filled her with joy and thankfulness. The Master will record one 
more act done to His servants for His sake. We can only thank 



MRS. SPURGEON'S WORK. 537 

you; He will commend and reward you for that which sprang 
from love to Him." 

The following touching incident is from the pen of Mrs. Spur- 
geon. May '* the afflicted, tost with tempest, and not comforted " 
reader find relief and rest while reading this sweet story of 
imprisoned music : — 

A curious little incident happened lately during a time of pro- 
longed sickness. At the close of a very dark and gloomy day, I 
lay resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on, and though 
all was bright within my cosey little room, some of the external 
darkness seemed to have entered into my soul and obscured its 
spiritual vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I knew 
held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet along a steep' and 
slippery path of suffering. In sorrow of heart I -asked, "Why 
does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why does He so often 
send sharp and bitter pain to visit me? Why does He permit 
lingering weakness to hinder the sweet service I long to render 
to His poor servants?" These fretful questions were quickly 
answered, and though in a strange language, no interpreter was 
needed save the conscious whisper of my own heart. For a while 
silence reigned in the little room, broken only by the crackling of 
the oak-log burning on the hearth. Suddenly I heard a sweet, 
soft sound, a little clear, musical note, like the tender trill of a 
robin beneath my window. ''What can that be?" I said to my 
companion, who was dozing in the firelight; ''surely no bird can 
be singing out there at this time of the year and night." We 
listened, and again heard the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet, so 
melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke for a moment our 
undisguised wonder. Presently my friend exclaimed, " It comes 
from the log on the fire ! " and we soon ascertained that her 
surprised assertion was correct. The fire was letting loose the im- 
prisoned music from the old oak's inmost heart ! Perchance he had 
garnered up this song in the days when all went well with him, 
when birds twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft sunlight 
flecked his tender leaves with gold. But he had grown old since 
then, and hardened ; ring after ring of knotty growth had sealed 



538 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

up the long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues of the 
flames came to consume his callousness, and the vehement heat 
of the fire wrung from him at once a song and a sacrifice. Ah, 
thought I, when the fire of affliction draws songs of praise from 
us, then indeed are we purified, and our God is glorified ! Per- 
haps some of us are like this old oak log, cold, hard, and insen- 
sible ; we should give forth no melodious sounds, were it not for 
the fire which kindles round us, and releases tender notes of trust 
in Him, and cheerful compliance with His will. "As I mused the 
fire burned," and my soul found sweet comfort in the parable so 
strangely set forth before me. Singing in the fire. Yes. God 
helping us, if that is the only way to get harmony out of these 
hard, apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated seven times hotter 
than before. 




Charles Spurgeon. 



XXX. 
CHARLES SPURGEON. 

(ONE OF THE TWIN SONS OF PASTOR C. H. SPURGEON) 



God, like a wise father, trains us prudently, and as we are able to bear it He 
makes our service and our suffering more and more arduous. As boys rejoice 
to be treated like men, so will we rejoice in our greater tribulations, for here is 
man's work for us, and by God's help we will not flinch from doing it. *' Quit 
yourselves like men ; be strong." — C. H. Spurgeon. 



CHARLES SPURGEON. 



GHARLES SPURGEON, one of the twin sons of Pastor 
C. H. Spurgeon, was born in Nightingale Lane, Balham, 
near London, on Sept. 20, 1856. 

He with his brother was educated at Camden House School, 
Brighton. Here he was noted as a cricketer, and one of the 
most active in every sport. He acquitted himself honorably in 
the scholastic department, and succeeded in obtaining some 
handsome prizes. 

After a creditable course of study, school was quitted by the 
brothers in 1874. They returned to Balham, and prepared for 
the great business of life. Here their pathways, which had hith- 
erto run from infancy in the same direction, began to diverge. 
Thomas adopted art as his profession, and attained some con- 
siderable proficiency in engraving; while Charles, whose persever- 
ance was combined with a firm will, entered the office of a city 
shipping firm. 

Charles Spurgeon's conversion took place under the following 
circumstances. He was out riding accompanied by a Christian 
friend, when their conversation turned into a religious channel. 
Rain came on, and they sought shelter under a tree. Dismount- 
ing, they both knelt down upon the grass, while his friend offered 
up a prayer. It was during this short season of communion that 
the glorious sunshine of truth broke in upon his young heart, 
and his warm affections and services were henceforth devoted to 
the Lord. This was the turning-point to which his religious and 
prayerful home-training had long been leading. 



542 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

The cry raised from Macedonia, long ages past, " Come over 
and help us," was raised from a little mission in the densely popu- 
lated neighborhood of Chatham Road, and reached Nightingale 
Lane, where it was readily responded to by the twin brothers. 

They visited this place, and found that meetings were being held 
in the cottage of a gardener, who was somewhat at a loss to find 
speakers. Here they labored together, and soon the project of 
erecting a chapel was taken in hand by the two brothers. It was 
nearly completed, when ill-health compelled Mr. Thomas Spurgeon 
to sail for Australia. 

Left to pursue this work alone, Mr. Charles Spurgeon felt the 
increase of labor it entailed. He was then in business, and besides 
the services on Sunday he held two, and often three, week-night 
meetings. At last the commodious and comfortable building now 
in use was finished, and duly opened by a sermon preached within 
its walls by his father. The labors of his son Charles were thus 
augmented. He had the sole care of this chapel; the only assist- 
ance he received being that rendered by a young friend in some 
minor affairs. 

Although his father never sought to persuade him to become a 
preacher, doubtless it was an answer to many prayers breathed 
by the parents when Charles felt constrained to withdraw from 
commercial pursuits, to enter the Pastors' College, with a view 
to the ministry, in 1877.. 

Here, on account of his superior education, he speedily became 
one of the first scholars, adding to the Latin and Greek in which 
he was already proficient, Hebrew and general theological studies. 

In the mean while it became evident that he was pre-eminently 
suited for a wider sphere of Gospel work than that of Chatham-road 
Chapel. The congregations could not be large in so small a chapel ; 
and although he did not use long words or eloquent similes which 
were above the intellectual capacities of his hearers, yet his ser- 
mons were manifestly suited for a more educated class. Occasion- 
ally he had preached sermons in different parts of England, which 
were attended with great success, very many souls being converted. 
Among other places he visited were Cambridge, Oxford, Isle of 
Wight, and several of the large manufacturing towns. 



CHARLES SPURGEON. 543 

In 1879 he received a call from the congregation at South 
Street, Greenwich. He had preached there once or twice, and at 
each service the commodious structure was crowded. The call 
was, after prayerful deliberation, accepted, and Mr. Charles Spur- 
geon entered upon his first pastorate there at the age of twenty- 
three. 

The church to which he was called had relapsed into a luke- 
warm and indifferent state, the numbers being few and no pastor at 
its head. These difficulties Mr. Charles Spurgeon saw and grap- 
pled with. The battle against indifference was gained, and he has 
been greatly blessed by the Holy Spirit to the salvation of many 
souls in Greenwich. The building, which was almost empty, is 
now filled with nearly a thousand hearers. A debt of five thou- 
sand dollars which incumbered the chapel has been paid off, and 
the church rejoices in many tokens of spiritual prosperity. Pastor 
C. Spurgeon was married on April 11, 188 1, to Miss S. A. Jacob, 
by his father. She is said to be a true co-worker with him in his 
service for the Master. 



HOLY ARITHMETIC. ' 

SERMON BY C. SPURGEON, PREACHED AT SOUTH STREET, GREENWICH. 
{Abridged from shorthaiid notes.) 
"Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied." — JUDE 2. 

A TRINITY of blessings is often to be met with in God's Word. 
Here we have three choice gems, — mercy, peace, and love, — which 
seem to sparkle as we gaze upon them, and happy is the man who, 
while looking on. them, can say, ''They are mine." It is God's 
happiness to crown all His people with goodness. For awhile, 
indeed, we may have to wear a crown of thorns, as our Master did ; 
but even this shall be a glory to us. What is it you have on your 
brow now? Is it not a golden diadem wrought by a gracious 
Lord? It is as if God would weave a wreath for our heads out of 



544 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

His mercy, and intertwine it with the Hly of peace and adorn it 
with the rose of love. May this trio of blessings be given to each 
one of us, and be multiplied. God's gifts always come in com- 
pany. He is God, and gives as a God. Man, indeed, has limited 
means, and so must be limited in his gifts ; but God's blessings are 
unbounded, and they come in triplets to us. Mercy is accom- 
panied with peace and love, and since God blesses His children 
thus, when we come to Him in prayer let us ask for a full supply 
of His favors. Jude would crave for a three-fold benediction to 
abide upon the saints of God. Do you say, " If we have mercy, 
that is enough? " No; there is more to be enjoyed, for peace and 
love are to follow. When we are speaking for others, let us be 
very bold. We may be somewhat backward when we seek bless- 
ings for ourselves, we are so sinful, and we know it; but when we 
ask for others,'' large petitions let us bring" — for them let us seek 
mercy, peace, and love. 

I want now to indulge in a little holy arithmetic. First there 
is a sum in addition, — "Mercy, and peace, and love." Add 
these together. Then there is a snm in multiplication , — " Mercy, 
and peace, and love, be multiplied ; and then by way of applica- 
tion, a sum in practice. 

I. In the first place we have a sum in addition. As Christians 
we must never be content with the measure of our grace. Do 
not be satisfied to remain dwarf trees, but seek to be growing 
higher and higher, and at the same time sending your roots deeper 
and deeper. Like giant palms, let our heads be lifted up to 
heaven, where the warm sunshine of divine love shall cherish 
growth, while our roots derive nourishment from the deep springs 
of secret grace. A sacred thirsting and hungering after celestial 
delicacies is what the Christian should at all times possess. We 
have sipped of the precious liquid only ; let us take the cup salva- 
tion, which overflows, and drink it dry if we can. A crumb will not 
feed a famished soul ; let us partake to the full of this heavenly 
bread. The first figure in this sum is " mercy," and it is a very 
high number indeed. It stands foremost, for it is the chief of 
God's dealings with us, whereby He pities us in our helplessness. 
We have already received much, but we are to add to it; for " He 



CHARLES SPURGEON. 545 

hath not dealt with us after our sins," but favor has been shown 
to the undeserving, mercy to those who are full of sin. He has 
shown not only clemency in bestowing pardon, but His bountiful 
mercy, whereby He sufficiently supplies our wants, " even the sure 
mercies of David." So that whatever we need, let us seek the 
stream bearing on its tide blessings for our souls to-day. Pray for 
this to God, who is rich in mercy, and He will add mercy to 
mercy. The best way to complete this sum is by coming to the 
mercy-seat. Therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that 
you may obtain mercy. The Father of all mercies will hear and 
bless. We cry, '* Have mercy upon us, according unto the mul- 
titude of Thy tender mercies." 

Then add to mercy " peace." What a glorious numeral is this ! 
As soon as we gaiin pardon there must come peace. For what soul 
shall dwell ill at ease that feels its sins forgiven? It is iniquity 
that causes pain; when this is removed there is a holy health of 
soul. The peace of God rules in our hearts, and keeps them too. 
Now are we reconciled to God through the death of His dear Son; 
we are at peace with Him. The enmity of our hearts has been 
slain, and it is our delight to be in His company. We want to 
have more of this peace ; how shall we gain it? Only by seeking 
to hold more communion with our God. If this fair flower is to 
grow within our hearts, the dew of heaven must fall upon it during 
the hours of calm fellowship with God. We must dwell in Him, 
and He in us. Then there will come also a peace with self. Hav- 
ing no longer the consciousness of guilt, but of satisfaction, being 
right with God, we are happy in ourselves, and peace pervades our 
spirits. The uprising of evil is quelled by the tranquillizing influ- 
ence of a clear conscience, and so a holy peace abides within our 
hearts. Reign on, O powerful yet pacific Prince, and peace shall 
evermore crown us with prosperity ! Have we got that peace with 
God? It is only by justification that we can obtain it. Through 
Jesus Christ, who is our peace, we enjoy this blessing. Shall we 
not add, then, to our heart's content? In Him are the springs 
of peace and love. Oh, that this peace may flow as a river 
within us ! 

Yet again, there is another figure to add, and it is ** love!' 



54^ LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Surely there is no more room. We are already full, now that we 
have the '' mercy of God " and the '' peace of God ; " what more 
can we have? Add to all this the " love of God," a boon beyond 
all calculation, a prize of infinite value. Many have got a little of 
this treasure ; would to God all had more. Love lies smouldering 
in our hearts. O Breath Divine, blow these sparks into burning 
fires ! Grace changes all within us, for while we receive such mercy 
and enjoy such peace from the hands of our loving Lord, we feel 
we must love in return. *'We love because we are loved," and this 
love is a habit wrought in us by God Himself, who is love. Do we 
hear the Master say, " Lovest thou Me? " We answer, *' Lord, thou 
knowest that we love Thee ; " and we might add more than Peter 
said, ** We do not love Thee as we should, nor even as we would." 
The true mother would not have her child divided, neither would 
God have the hearts of His true children divided in their affec- 
tions. 

"Burn, burn, O Love, within my breast 

Burn fiercely night and day, 

Till all the dross of earthly loves 

Is burned and burned away." 

Let the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts as the sunlight, 
gleaming through the painted window of a cathedral, sheds a 
beauty upon all, adorning yet not disarranging aught. So the 
love of God should shine in our hearts, making everything beau- 
tiful, our thoughts, our words, our actions all being lit up with His 
love. Now put these three together, — mercy, peace, love, — and 
what a grand total they make, — items in the grace of God for all 
to enjoy. 

n. Now we come to our sum in multiplication. If I want to in- 
crease rapidly, let me have the multipHcation table, and let it be by 
compound multiplication too. Multiply by that which has been 
itself multiplied. Mercy, and peace, and love, multiplied by mercy, 
and peace, and love, which have been multiplied. Is this a hard 
sum? God can help us to do it if we also help ourselves. The 
first thing that affords aid is memory. Think of the mercies of 
yesterday, put them down, then multiply them by the mercies 
of to-day, and so on and on, meditating upon the favors of years 



CHARLES SPURGEON. 54/ 

past, and you will find by this mental exercise that the mercy you 
now enjoy will be multiplied. Let every mercy have a dot over it 
to show that it is a recurring one. And memory will refresh you 
concerning peace too. Remember when the heart was broken, 
and the spirit was tried with anguish, how Jesus spake to you in 
words of tender love and blessed comfort. After the thunder and 
the whirlwind there was the ** still small voice " which whispered 
peace. The dashing billows bore upon their crested summits the 
all-powerful voice of a loving Saviour, who said, *' It is I ; be not 
afraid," and immediately there was a calm. Recollect the morn- 
ing of bright joy which followed the nights of sadness. Love, too, 
must be remembered if it is to be multiplied. Review all the 
tokens i;eceived in the past, all the choice souvenirs. Take down 
that bundle of letters, and let Memory refresh herself by re-reading 
all the words of love written by a gracious God. Thus shall 
memory help us in our multiplication. 

Another help we may have is mutual intercourse. As a boy at 
school runs to another older and wiser than himself when a sum is 
hard, and he needs help in doing it, so. should Christians endeavor 
to find counsel and support from intercourse with their fellow- 
saints. A brother. may tell you something you never knew before, 
for he has just received a mercy that you are wanting, and the way 
he obtained it may serve as a direction for you. Then get into 
the peaceful company of believers, and you will find your peace 
will be multiplied. Do not lie down with the lion, or you may 
learn to fight, but rest beside the lamb, and peace shall abound. 
Love also begets love, and in the fellowship of those who love the 
Lord you will derive much benefit and an increase to your love. 

But the very best way is to go to the Master. If the sum is 
difficult, it may be well to take down the exercise-book and see 
the examples already worked out. Study God's Word, and see how 
mercy, and peace, and love have been multiplied to others : so 
shall you learn the way to have your own multiplied. If you can- 
not get on with this aid, go straight away to the Head-master. 
He is merciful. He is full of mercy, He is plenteous in mercy. 
Here, then, shall you find a way out of your difficulty. If you 
cannot multiply, He will do it for you. He is the Prince of Peace: 



548 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

submit yourself to His gentle reign, and peace shall be yours. 
Dwell in the atmosphere of His love, and this grace shall be more 
and more in you. Thus, Teacher Divine, help Thy scholars to rise 
and make progress while here below, until it shall please Thee to 
call us home for the holidays, where our lessons shall be at an end ; 
for then shall we enjoy the fulness of Thy mercy, the sweetness of 
Thy peace, and the bounties of Thy love. 

in. Now a stun in practice^ and a very short one too. Unto 
you who have been called, sanctified, and preserved, are these 
words of exhortation sent. Be merciful, for " Blessed are the mer- 
ciful, for they shall obtain mercy ; " be peaceful, for " Blessed are 
the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God ; " 
be loving, for " Love is of God, and every one that loveth is born 
of God, and knoweth God." Evermore may this trinity of bless- 
ings abide with us : the mercy of the Lord which is from everlast- 
ing to everlasting, the peace of God which passeth understanding, 
and the love of God which passeth knowledge, for His name's 
sake. Amen. 



SACRED PENMANSHIP. 

SERMON BY C. SPURGEON, PASTOR OF SOUTH-STREET CHAPEL, GREENWICH. 

{^Abridged from shorthand notes.) 

" Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men : forasmuch 
as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not 
with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy 
tables of the heart." — 2 CoR. iii. 2, 3. 

" Self-praise is no recommendation," and the '' sounding of 
one's own trumpet" is not to be applauded. The apostle must 
show that he does not approve of such a method, and although he 
was in a position to boast of great attainments, yet he would not 
glory in himself. However, it fell to his lot to be charged with 
arrogance, and that which he most carefully avoided was brought 
against him as a crime. But are we not entitled as Christians to 



CHARLES SPURGEON. 549 

somewhat of boasting? We have surely a glory of which we need 
not be ashamed. As '* children of God " we possess an inheri- 
tance concerning which we may well be proud. To us are com- 
mitted the " oracles of God," and we still hold to the " faith once 
delivered to the saints." Ours is not a vain glorying, for it is of 
God. I would that every Christian were preaching so as to be 
heard by all around, not in the pulpit, but in the home, a sermon 
in which he made the cross of Christ his glory, and the blood of 
Christ his boast. False teachers had entered into the Corinthian 
church, and they had found it necessary to have letters of recom- 
mendation, but Paul needed no such introduction. Truth and 
righteousness recommend themselves in the work they accomplish. 
'* Good wine needs no bush," and those who are blessed beneath a 
faithful minister are his best letters of commendation. In sending 
forth the seventy our Lord did not give each a letter of introduc- 
tion, but rather endowed each with power to do good, and their 
works and words were to stand them in stead thereof Paul's con- 
verts were his epistles, as we call books the works of writers now, 
and these were put down as the apostle's seals to his ministry. 
Our translation admits of another rendering, namely, " Ye are our 
epistles wTitten in j/our hearts," and this would imply that Paul 
had been enabled to pencil something in the hearts of others which 
could be read by all men ; and it is with this idea I shall deal in 
speaking about sacred penmanship. 

I. First, observe ^/le requisites for writing. Figures are often 
used to set forth the Christian life, and none, I think, does so more 
clearly than that beneath our notice, ** Ye are our epistles!' We 
are likened to trees, for we need planting, nurturing, watering, and 
pruning before we can bear fruit; stones, for there has been the 
quarrying, setting, polishing, and building wrought upon us ; lights, 
where trimming and sustaining is so much required to render us 
clear and bright ; and now epistles, written so that all men may 
read us. The accessories must be provided, however, for a letter - 
to be written, and let us briefly notice these, — pen, ink, and 
paper. 

In the third verse we have the pen : " Forasmuch as ye are 
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us." Here is 



550 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the instrument in the hand of God. The Church was divided, for 
one said, " I am of Paul ; " another, " I am of Cephas." But these 
good men were only ministers by whom they had believed, — the 
pens whereby God, through His Spirit, had written upon the 
fleshy tables of their hearts. Among these instruments there 
must ever be a variety. The rough and rude can, however, be 
made to write well. Paul, though he was not eloquent of speech, 
but somewhat blunt, had power to get hold of men's hearts ; and 
he wrote upon them with dark, indelible lines, great truths. But 
God has another pen. Apollos could speak with eloquence of 
diction, and finely pencil the Scripture, so that the Jews were 
mightily convinced that Jesus was the Christ. John was another 
such instrument. Soft in love, sketching in poetry the wonderful 
revelations he had of " the better land," he would win hearts for 
Jesus. Or yet again, see how Peter suits the bold, round-hand 
writing which God would have inscribed upon the hard tables of 
Jewish minds. He stands forth to declare the whole counsel of 
God before the Sanhedrim, the murderers of Christ, without fear. 
Luke, his friend, however, is the pen that the Spirit uses to write 
the small-hand of detail. Thus is it the Master uses varied tools 
to inscribe His own will upon men's hearts. O Lord, point us, 
if need be, with cutting, so that we may be pens in Thy hand to 
write upon others' hearts. 

Then there must be the ink. The sacred fluid is the Spirit of 
God. "Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living 
God." The mysterious influence that flows through us is not of 
earthly manufacture. It is the pure Spirit of the living God ; it 
never mars or discolors, but adds glory to the heart upon which 
it flows. Words penned by this agency shall not die, for the 
marks of grace are indelible, it being the Spirit of the living 
God. It is truly an invisible ink, but when held to the fire of 
divine love shall become apparent, and it can never fade ; a non- 
corrosive fluid, and yet it eats its way into men's hearts. What 
we want is a greater measure of this sacred writing power. Pray 
that the Father may send the Spirit upon you more abundantly. 

The next requisite is the paper. It is not written upon stone, 
but " in fleshy taj)les of the heart." The law may be pencilled 



CHARLES SPURGEON. 551 

by God's finger upon stones, but His love must be written upon 
the tender heart. As Matthew Henry quaintly says : " Not upon 
the fleshly, but fleshy tables." That heart that God gives best 
receives God's writing. A soft heart best absorbs the ink ; a liv- 
ing tablet best retains impressions. How is it with your heart, 
dear hearer? Has God ever written His name there? Lay bare 
the page, and let the Lord even now transcribe words of love and 
merty upon it. Are you willing that it should be so? Then shall 
you know His willingness, for He says : " I will take the stony 
heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh." 
Lord, write first in us, and then make us as the ** pen of the ready 
writer," to make our mark on others. 

IL Now I want you to consider, secondly, the readers of the 
writing. *' Known and read of all men!' The writing is real, no 
fiction, for the author is Christ. We are the autograph letters of 
our Lord, and bear His signature. The writing is clear, for we are 
''manifestly declared \.o be the epistle of Christ." The handwriting 
is legible, not shaky with doubt; no forgery through unfaithful- 
ness, but the whole plainly penned in all the up-and-down strokes. 
Now this document is a public one. Believers are the library for 
the world ; they are a Christian literature. Each saint is a volume 
to expound the grace of God. *' Known and read of all men." 
We may consider the readers of this writing to be of three classes, 
— the i7itelligent, interested, and inquisitive. Many are real stu- 
dents of Christian character, desirous of gaining knowledge for 
their own good in spiritual attainments. If you see a person take 
down a book in a hbrary, you soon judge whether he has been 
accustomed to study by the way in which he handles the volume ; 
and so there are those who carefully review every syllable of a 
Christian's life, and read each line for their own edification. How 
anxious should we be to help such students by our example, living 
near unto the great Exemplar. 

Then there are the interested readers, — our friends who like to 
see if we make progress in divine things. The " first series " of 
Christian experiences are interesting, and are studied with deep 
anxiety by those who love young converts. The pastor reads to 
find out if such are increasing' in the knowledge of God, growing 



552 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

in grace, getting stronger in love, and taking a deeper and firmer 
hold of the doctrines of Christ. The parent reads the heart of the 
child, anxiously seeking to see how far Christ's character is spelled 
out in the child's hfe. The teacher reads the scholar's, the friend 
the acquaintance's, the master the servant's, and the servant the 
master's too. Let us seek to please such as take a loving interest 
in us, remembering that the Lord Himself is one of these readers; 
so may we strive to adorn His doctrine in all things. * 

The last class I have called the iiiqinsitive. They only peruse 
to find fault. They look at the Christian character through smoky 
magnifying-glasses, and sometimes they turn the volume upside 
down, and then complain that it is all a big mistake, and they can- 
not make it out. They pick out that which the follower of Jesus 
knows full well to be a flaw himself, and then ask the question, 
*' Is this like a Christian?" Beware, dear reader! Be careful, for 
men's eyes are always ready to detect a failing. Ours must be so 
correct an epistle that fault-finders shall find it difficult to gratify 
their morbid taste. The schoolmaster says to his boys, '* Be sure 
you dot your i's and cross your t's; " and we, too, must be mind- 
ful of little things. If the Spirit of God has written upon our 
hearts, let us exhibit that epistle in our lives, so that we may be 
known and read of all men to the glory of our God. Amen. 




Thomas Spurgeon. 



XXXI. 
THOMAS SPURGEON 

(SON OF PASTOR C. H.' SPURGEON.) 



Two seeds lie before us : the one is warmed in the sun, the other falls from 
the sower's hand into the cold dark earth, and there it lies buried beneath the 
soil. That seed which suns itself in the noontide beam may rejoice in the light 
in which it basks, but it is liable to be devoured by the bird, and certainly 
nought can come of it, however long it may linger above ground. But the other 
seed, hidden beneath the clods in a damp, dark sepulchre, soon swells, germi- 
nates, bursts its sheath, upheaves the mould, springs up a green blade, buds, 
blossoms, becomes a flower, exhales perfume, and loads the wings of every 
wind. Better far for the seed to pass into the earth and 'die, than to lie in the 
sunshine and produce no fruit. And even thus for thee the future in its sorrow 
shall be as a sowing in a fertile land; tears shall moisten thee, grace shall in- 
crease within thee, and thou shalt grow up in the likeness of thy Lord unto per- 
fection of hoHness, to be such a flower of God's own planting as even angels 
shall delight to gaze upon in the day of thy transplanting to celestial soil. — 
C. H. Spurgeon. 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 



THE name of Mr. Thomas Spurgeon has become widely known 
to readers of " The Sword and the Trowel." One of the twin 
sons of the famous preacher, he is developing an earnest manhood, 
enriched with study, experience, travel, and observation. 

After serving some time to an engraver, he, like his brother 
Charles, decided to give his life to preaching the gospel. But his 
delicate health forbade his remaining in England. While yet quite 
young he sailed to Australia, and spent one year in evangelistic 
labors there. After his return to England it was decided that he 
must again turn his back on '' home, sweet home," and sail once 
more from the damp climate of his native Isle for the Antipodes. 
During the past few years he has preached in many places in that 
wonderful country, as well as in New Zealand ; and finally he de- 
cided to accept the pastorate of a Baptist church in Auckland, 
where his influence is already becoming widely felt. 

Thomas Spurgeon has proved himself " a worthy son of a worthy 
sire," and the quaintness and humor of " John Ploughman." have 
found an echo in ** Tom the Ploughboy." Although the following 
letter, giving vent to the gushing ardor of an affectionate son 
poured out unreservedly to an indulgent father, was private and 
personal, yet it was too choice a morsel to withhold from the 
public. 

To John Ploughman, 

My dear Father, — I am so glad you have had your likeness 
taken with your smock on and the big whip in your hand. There 
are ever so many portraits of you in your Sunday go-to-meeting 



55^ LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

suit; but this suits you best of all. I wish you could have got 
Dapper and Violet into the picture. All your friends in this part 
of the world are glad enough to hear the smack of your whip again. 
It cracks as many jokes as ever. We rejoice, too, that the sharp 
share is driven through the monster evil, drink, and its attendant 
vices. " God speed the plough," we pray, when it roots up such 
ill weeds. 

There is any quantity of snakes in these colonies, and men either 
avoid or kill them ; but this venomous viper they cherish and 
fondle till '* at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an 
adder." It puzzles^ me why those who know and admit the 
danger still risk it. '' Once bit, twice shy," does n't hold good in 
such cases. They see the devil's hook, and yet grab at the bait, 
and drink like fish. Why, the very rooks in the trees might teach 
them a lesson. Let them but see a gun, and off they fly; indeed, 
conceal the weapon as you may, they spy it out somehow, and 
take to themselves wings, not waiting to hear the report, or give 
a chance; but these black birds '' tarry long at the wine," and " go 
to seek mixed wine." They love to get within range of the Cannon 
Brewery or the Gunner's Arms, and are willing targets for a shower 
of grape shot any hour of the day or night. What wonder that 
their eyes become bloodshot, and that they themselves are " brought 
down " shattered and tattered and torn. 

As to public-houses (hotels they call them here), they are as 
thick as gum-trees in the bush, and, though Australia is free from 
wild beasts, the Red Lion does a roaring trade. And the stuff the 
topers swallow is, I hear, abominable, especially up in the bush, 
where folks are not expected to be over particular. If all the 
colonial beer and spirits were of the best quality, the harm would 
not be quite so great; but such mess as some of it evidently is 
must mean '' death in the pot." The best of intoxicants to my 
mind is bad; what must the worst be? Would to God the cursed 
traffic could be checked ; a host of crimes would then be stayed. 
'Red rum spelled backward reads *' murder;" gin, the dictionary 
says, is '' a snare," and every-day facts prove it so to be. I feel 
sure that the *' cold-water cure " is the only remedy. Moder- 
ation goes half-way, and therefore fails. Thank God, there are 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 55/ 

thousands of abstainers amongst us, so we will do the best we can, 
God helping us, to stem the tide. 

I hear readers of your second edition comparing your last fur- 
rows with your first. Of course the novelty of such Plain Talk 
is not so keen, but the pictures are deemed a great improvement. 
Old Humphrey likes pictures as well as little Harry, and these are 
first-raters too. You remember I did a little ploughing on box- 
wood once on a time, so I reckon myself a bit of a judge. Here 's 
my opinion, if it 's worth the having. Your illustrations seem just 
to fit the writing: they might have been drawn by your own 
horses, so handy are they to the plough, and the engravings might 
be cuts of your own whip. 

Many a good laugh I 've had over some of your quaint sayings 
and odd rhymes. They seem made to make one smile, and are 
more powerful than laughing-gas. This is the beauty of the book, 
to my mind. I like a mixture of pleasure and profit, and of wit 
with wisdom. Just a drop or two of sauce with the cold mutton is 
a grand improvement. The meat is good eiaough by itself, you 
knovy, but it slips down sweeter somekow with a dash of " relish." 
When will people learn the absurdity of fancying that, because we 
have faith, we must n't have any fun? I believe that holiness and 
humor can be yoked together, and pull finely too ; and I can't 
bring myself to believe that it is impossible to love Jesus and have 
a laugh occasionally into the bargain. What would you have 
done, dear father, but for a natural merriment, sanctified by grace? 
It would be dreadful hard labor to be always ploughing without 
whistling a tune every now and then, and having a hearty laugh 
when we knock off, or even during work. The plough does n't go 
any better for being rusty, and the pilgrim is n't a whit fitter for 
heaven because he 's crusty. 

If I remember rightly, those two favored evangelists from Amer- 
ica were both cheerful, happy men ; but I often think it 's a good 
plan if I feel Moody to sing Sankey, and let solemnity and song 
blend together. If I should feel a bit down at any time I mean to 
have another look at your pictures, and if the white &gg of the 
black hen, or the fiddle without the stick, or the cart before the 
horse don't liven me up, — well, I must read some more. Here 's 



55^ LIFE AND LABORS OF C H. SPURGEON. 

a receipt for melancholy which beats half the tonics and enliveners 
" all to pieces." 

If you 're down in the dumps or given to grumble, 

If things go awry or all in a jumble, 

If storms should grow thicker and thunder-clouds rumble, 

And down the big drops like cats and dogs tumble, 

It 's surely no good to murmur and mumble. 

Nor yet to commence to flurry and fumble. 

Accept my advice, nor think it too humble 

(I give it to all you good gloomy folks), 

Invest in a volume of John Ploughman's jokes. 

I am often asked if you are likely ever to come out here. Your 
horses say " neigh," and I feel obliged to return the same answer. 
How I wish you could, though ! What rejoicing there would be, 
and how the people would flock to welcome you ! I fancy I see 
even the kangaroos hopping down to town to hear some of your 
*' plain talk." Will you ever plough the South Atlantic ocean, 
think you? We Ve "got some good workers here, but we should 
all be the better for a look at your way of doing it, and a specimen 
of your straight furrow, just to guide us a bit. 

You will be glad to hear we have got our new chapels up and 
opened. Our minister calls them tabernacles, after yours. Of 
course they 're not quite so big. A good deal of rough ground 
has been broken up : now we can go in more readily for sowing 
and reaping a crop which is already appearing. I think of going 
to New Zealand shortly to turn up some ground that is new, at 
least to me. 

I need not tell you that my thoughts often fly home. I have 
put my hand to a colonial plough, but, truth to tell, I constantly 
" look back," not from the work, but across the deep blue sea to 
'* home, sweet home." " Every bird loves its own nest," and this 
" seagull " is no exception. . 

Give my love to dear mother. She has a work of her own, and 
a right good one too ; I wish all were as well employed in the 
field. She does her plough share, and no mistake ; the Master 
help her in it ! Brother Charles still ploughs at Greenwich, I sup- 
pose. There 's plenty of ground to work upon there. God bless 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 559 

him. Remember me to Will Shepherd, and give Dapper and 
Violet an extra feed on my account. 

I fear I 've kept you too long reading this. It is something like 
stopping the plough to catch a mouse. I think it 's time I gave 
over ; so God be wi' ye, and fare thee well, dear father. 

Your loving son, 

Tom, the Ploughboy. 

Tasmania. 

The ability, zeal, discrimination, and spirituality of Thomas 
Spurgeon are noticeable in the following series of articles from 
his pen. We also append a striking hymn, which is a sweet strain 
worthy of our best vocal powers. 



"HE TOLD- US NOTHING NEW." 

Many a critic praises when he intends to censure. The man 
who uttered this complaint had not got what, he expected, but 
the fault was with himself, in that he did not look for what it was 
the preacher's duty to supply. Blame from certain quarters is the 
highest commendation. The fly blamed the spider for spreading 
a web right in its way, and thus paid an unintentional compliment 
to the skilful fly-catcher. The nail chided the. hammer for hitting 
it right on the head, and indirectly praised the stroke. The fish 
complained that the bait completely hid the hook, and this was 
one to the fisherman. Now if the fly and the nail and the fish 
had been able to congratulate one another on escape from web 
and stroke and hook, spider and carpenter and fisherman would 
not have shared the joy, but would have needed to look to their 
laurels and try again. This case is somewhat similar. From the 
son of a great preacher, this fault-finder expected to receive some- 
thing not only startling in delivery, but novel as to matter. 

A fellow-townsman said to him the morning after the evangel- 
istic service, " Were you hearing young Spurgeon last night, and 
what did you think of him? " 

"Little enough," he answered. "It was the same old stuff". He 
told us nothing new." The reader must imagine the shrugged 



560 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

shoulder and the disappointed look which accompanied this 
lamentation. Sorry as I may be for the poor man's disappoint- 
ment, I cannot bring myself to murmur at his criticism. I gladly 
own the judgment just. There could be no credit to the preacher 
of the gospel if men who were by no means strangers to the truth 
exclaimed in rapturous delight, " It was all new to us ; we never 
heard such things before ! " Is it ours to be ever " teUing some 
new thing," tickling the ears of Athenians, and finding food for 
speculation and superstition? I thought " the old, old story " was 
our theme, and none of your new-fangled notions and startling 
novelties. 

What this malcontent expected, I am at a loss to know. The 
avowed object of the preacher was to proclaim the gospel, and 
the promise was fulfilled. He certainly had a gospel text: " TKis 
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus 
came into the world to save sinners ; " and if I remember rightly, 
the sermon stuck to the text, the tune was in the same key as the 
first note. 

Had the platform been occupied by a conjurer whose pro- 
gramme promised a succession of '' startling novelties " and '* real 
surprises," the audience would have done right in grumbling if 
these were not forthcoming. An ordinary show of sleight of 
hand, simple card-tricks, and the like, would not satisfy a public 
whose appetite had been whetted by a magniloquent advertise- 
ment Nothing short of decapitating an obliging attendant and 
afterwards restoring his headpiece, or the production of live turtle- 
doves from a magic frying-pan, could be reckoned a completion 
of the contract. If a lecturer or concert-company visited the 
township with songs or subjects said to be '' entirely new," the 
folks might ask for their money back again (I do not say they 
would get it), if all they heard was on some local topic from 
the orator, " Nancy Lee," or '' Home, sweet Home," from the 
songsters. 

But in this particular case the speaker made no pretensions, 
charged no fee, made no promises. He could not be charged 
with '* giving out that himself was some great one." He did not 
cause a trumpet to be sounded before him, nor did he blow his 



THOMAS SPURGEON. $6l 

own. Passing through the town, he consented to preach the 
gospel as best he could, and though weary with journeying, he 
spoke earnestly about the way ** from death unto life." No 
bargain was broken, no promise forgotten. 

I wonder what the grumbler looked for? Surely he could never 
have hoped I was a purveyor of such misty, mazy doctrines con- 
cerning the creation, Christ's' atonement, and future punishment 
as some men teach. My very name might tell him differently; 
for though it does not always happen (would God it did!) that 
sons continue in their sire's holy faith, yet hope points that way, 
and disappointment generally arises in cases of departure rather 
than in instances of adherence. Did he expect me to introduce 
a new Saviour to the township, or to rear some ladder to the skies 
such as he had dreamed of or was wishing for? If so, I thank 
God that he was disappointed, for I have " determined not to 
know anything among men save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 

Gladly I leave others to preach such sermons as one I heard of 
lately, in which — so says a hearer — ''the most comforting truth 
was the fact that traces of the human race have been discovered 
thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface." Possibly such a 
statement might be classed under the head of " some new thing; " 
but if the gospel is still to be had, we say '* The old is better." 

That ** Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," is the 
grandest news that earth can ever hear. It made even heaven 
rejoice, though our gain was its loss. Was it not to this glad tune 
that angels sang to shepherds on the Saviour's birth-night? Did 
not the eastern sages hail with joy the tidings that the God-sent 
star. proclaimed? And this same news, older in point of time, but 
fresh and fragrant still, is what we preach ; indeed, our news is 
better, for we can tell not only of our Redeemer's advent, but of 
His finished work. His complete sacrifice, and His ceaseless in- 
tercession. We speak not of the manger only, but of the cross, 
the grave, the throne. 

. Let them call this " the same old stuff," if they will. We take 
the liberty of wresting their words till the title, contemptuous 
though it seems to be, serves as a glorious motto. Let every 
pulpit provide "the same old stuff! " The loaves and fishes of 

36 



562 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the gospel are better far than any of the dainty dishes the modern 
confectioners of the Church concoct. But let it not be thought 
that when we glory in the old gospel we admit it is not news. 
Paradoxical as it may seem, we hold that the charm of the old 
truth is its perennial freshness. It renews its youth " like the 
eagles." In some quarters, they tell us it is worn out and thread- 
bare. 

The correspondent of a New Zealand paper, when writing the 
other day from America, said that in that country the old-fash- 
ioned theology was " played out." This startling intelligence was 
followed by an insinuation, in language which I do not care to quote, 
that the departure of some from sound Scriptural views argues a 
general decay and failure of our holy faith. Because some remove 
the ancient landmarks, he would have it that all are on the eve of 
changing their minds, recanting their faith, and striking their col- 
ors. The wish, I presume, is father to the thought. Such writers 
— who, by the way, are far more at home when writing of some 
notable scandal or political sensation — would make us swallow 
their persuasion that our sires have been mistaken, and that we 
have shared their folly ; that the faith for which martyrs blazed 
and heroes bled — the faith in which Christians lived trustingly and 
died triumphantly — is a delusion and a lie. They would have 
us fling overboard the treasure that has been to us both ballast 
and cargo so long; and what are they going to give us instead 
thereof? They would load us, like the silt boats, with mud and 
mire which they have dredged from their own imaginations, — 
" primordial slime," or some such stuff! 

The fact is, that for those who are content to relinquish *' the old, 
old story," there is every provision m.ade in order to supply the 
vacuum. There is a charming variety of substitutes to select from. 
As saith the showman, "Whichever you please, my little dears; 
you pays your money and you takes your choice ! " Here is a 
peep-hole, with a view of '' final restoration." Another presents a 
scene in which certain learned divines, armed with hose, are play- 
ing jets of water on the flames of hell and putting them out (in 
the picture). Directions for looking through this hole are to 
the effect that you must keep one eye shut and not look out of 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 563 

the Other; for who but the blind can fail to see unquenchable 
fire even in Christ's teaching? Should you wish to change your 
views, you can be obliged with a glance through peep-holes la- 
belled " Conditional Immortality," " Cleansing Fires," or *' Anni- 
hilation." Dropping the figure, you can find some to assure 
you that you will die like a dog, or an ass, if such a doctrine 
pleases you ; you can get a purgatory without going to Rome for 
it, and annihilation, or something very like it, from professing 
Christians. 

Does some one remind me that these things are by no means 
new, — that these views have been held in some shape or form for 
years? I admit it; but are they not new, after all, in comparison 
with the gospel of the grace of God? Who knows when "the 
wondrous plan " was first contrived? 

The Lamb, whose blood still cleanses us, ^yas *' slain from the 
foundation of the world." The first gospel sermon was preached 
as soon as Adam fell, when God the Father promised that the 
woman's seed should bruise the serpent's head. All else is new 
when we talk of God's love to rebel -men : and yet, old as this 
gospel is, its power remains as fresh and forceful as ever. "Played 
out," indeed ! What means the scribe? We may believe it when 
an angel tells us so, and God admits it. Is this penny-a-liner also 
among the prophets? 

Just now God is telling us plainly, the world over, that His arm 
is not shortened that it cannot save ; and what is His instrument 
but the tale of Calvary, the old-fashioned theology? Is the "faith- 
ful saying" no longer true and "worthy of all acceptation?" 
Has. " the truth as it is in Jesus " had its day, like the crowd of 
short-lived dogmas which have barked against it ? Has the fringe 
of Jesus' garment ceased to respond with " virtue " to the touch 
of faith ? 

When Christ uplifted fails to draw; when the fount, once 
opened for sin and all uncleanness, is " a spring shut up, a foun- 
tain sealed ; " when Jesus gives up pleading and the Spirit ceases 
striving; when angels have no repenting sinners to sing about, 
we may look for a newer and a better gospel : then we may take 
up another sword and wear another badge; but 



564 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

" Till then, — nor is our boasting vain, — 

Till then we '11 preach a Saviour slain ; 
• And oh, may this our glory be, 

The trutlv of Christ still makes men free." 

A word to those who read this paper, not having yet accepted 
for themselves the Christ we speak of. Dear friends, you have a 
reverence for the '' old story " which my critic did not possess. 
Possibly you have got "so near to the kingdom" as to know that 

'' None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good." 

Still you have not made Jesus yours. Have you grown gospel- 
hardened? Have you built your nest so long in the belfry that 
the bells are scarcely heard ? Are the terrible knells which speak 
of death and judgment, and the merry chime which calls to mency, 
alike unheeded? Do not ask for a new gospel, — seek a new 
heart. God Himself cannot provide any other salvation than that 
which Christ has wrought. Is it too simple, too easy, too readily 
understood? 

If these are the faults you find, be sure they cannot be altered, 
but you can and must be changed; for "except ye be converted, 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom 
of heaven." God give you grace enough, and humility enough, 
to enable you to accept the simple truth, that you may not be 
" ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto 
salvation to every one that believeth." 



"HE'S NOT A BIT LIKE A PARSON." 

Such was the remarkable encomium passed by a sick man on a 
Christian minister by whom he had been visited. Just as sparkling 
little nuggets of pure gold are found imbedded in the hard and 
rugged quartz, so in that rough-hewn sentence there nestles the 
sincerest praise, unmixed with the alloy of flattery which many a 
polished phrase contains. 

Although as a matter of fact the author of this eulogium had 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 565 

very little sympathy with religion and its professed promoters, I 
scarcely think he intended so wholesale a condemnation of " the 
cloth " as might be inferred from his curious criticism. It is just 
possible that the sick man had been visited by some ecclesi- 
astic whose parsonic importance had irritated him. No lover 
of religion himself, he would not be too ready to cherish a liking 
for a professional religionist. Used to scoff and jeer at holy 
things when up and well, he did not relish parsonic visits during 
sickness. Perhaps it seemed like taking undue advantage of him. 
Anything of a priestly style would, of course, go against his grain. 
He would readily become suspicious, and, determined not to swal- 
low any pious pills, he would not hesitate to make the visitor 
aware that his room was preferre.d to his company. The Christian 
minister who seeks to reach such a character as this needs wisdom 
that Cometh from above. The door of such a heart seems closed 
to priests and parsons. Officialism may give as many impressive 
knocks as it pleases, with nothing but the echo of its own raps as 
response. The very sight of a white choker and a long black coat 
to such a man as this will, so to speak; make the snail pull in his 
horns and shrink into his ^hell, or, to use another metaphor, it lifts 
the drawbridge of the soul and makes it quite impregnable. 

Sanctimoniousness, too, will work as much evil as starchiness. 
If the voice be twangy, or if the eyes roll after " dying-duck " and 
"thunder-storm" fashion, the sick scoffer is sure to notice it and 
to exaggerate it too. His eyes become magnifying-glasses, and 
his ears microphones. He sees rolling eyes without number, and 
hears cant phrases to any amount. He hates them all, and does 
not love the man who owns the rotating optics and speaks with 
what the scorner calls " the Bible twang." Should the parson 
begin to talk on some subject less grave and solemn, in the hope 
that he may find a back entrance or a side door by and by, he is no 
more successful. The visit is essentially parsonic. The patient is 
not strong enough to scoff or argue, and therefore wishes *^ his 
reverence " gone. And " his reverence " might as well go. Well 
meaning he may have been, but he went about a right action in a 
wrong way, and spoiled it all. Style and starch and stiffness are 
bad enough in the drawing-room and parlor; they are worse in the 



566 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

pulpit; but worst of all beside a sick bed and with an unbeliever. 
If that scoffer is to be won for Jesus, — and during illness is a hope- 
ful time, — the attempt must be made cautiously, considerately, 
and prayerfully. 

Our non7parsonic brother visited him. Of course he was an en- 
tire stranger, for never had the invalid attended his services. The 
bar (not legal) was the sick man's particular shrine, and Bacchus 
his patron saint (?). It was a far better "spec" to his mind to 
spend his threepennies on beer than to put them into the collection- 
plate. He used to chaff his neighbors as they went to meeting, 
and asked if they were *' going to give another threepenny." Being 
a good-humored fellow, he would seldom do more than banter 
Christians about their faith.; but his enmity to religion was by no 
means concealed by his jokes and jeers. A life of evil proclaimed 
aloud the deep-seated hatred in his heart to holiness and God. 

What will he say to our dissenting friend, who sports no snowy 
choker, and whose coat and hat are neither longer in the tail nor 
broader in the brim than those worn by ordinary folks? He will 
look in vain for a priestly or professional style with this visitor, 
who enters in a free and homely way, shakes hands heartily yet 
tenderly, and storms the castle by the very first cannonade of 
kindliness and fraternity. We are not permitted to know all that 
was said and done, but we learn afterwards that the sick man 

remarked to a friend of his, " What a nice fellow Mr. is. 

He came to see me just now, and talked and prayed with me. I 
did n't want to let him go. I never knew any one speak so kindly 
to me ; quite brotherly he was, and not a bit like a parson I " 

Well done, thou man of God ! The common people hear thee 
gladly, so thou hast somewhat of thy Master's manner with thee. 
What though no holy (?) hands have blessed thy head, and thou 
art not recognized a member of the line that comes direct from 
Paul and Peter, thy heart has been touched by a Saviour's pierced 
hand, and apostolic success is more to be desired than apostolic 
succession. 

My readers will not be surprised to learn that this visit was not 
the last, and that each succeeding one was doubly welcome. They 
will rejoice to hear that the sick man was restored, and that, best of 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 567 

all, " the plague of his heart " was cured. Of course he worshipped 
in the plain-built tabernacle, and heard the non-parsonic preacher ; 
and never did I see a more attentive listener, nor ever catch a face 
amongst the auditors more helpful and inspiring to the preacher. 
Of course Bacchus did not profit by this change, and his priests 
were greatly angered. Of course the collection-plate was the 
richer by considerably more than a threepenny-piece, and the 
quondam scoffer counted it an honor to be ridiculed for Jesus' 
sake. 

What was it brought this man round, and turned the current 
of his life? ** The grace and power of God," says one. Truly; 
nothing else could accomplish it. But what was instrumental? 
"The sickness," say you. . Yes, in part; but the directest influ- 
ence was the kindly manner and Christ-like conversation of his 
visitor; and being "not a bit like a parson," had not a little to 
do with snatching the brand from the burning. Oh, for a heart 
to feel for other hearts, and beat in unison with them ! The chan- 
nel to the souls of men is intricate indeed ; we need a heavenly 
pilot to teach us how to steer. Above all things, we must avoid 
a patronizing, condescending style w^hen visiting the poor and 
sick. It is possible to descend without seeming to do so, and to 
rise again as imperceptibly. Christ-like humility is quite compat- 
ible with Christian dignity. We should do gracious actions with 
a good grace, or the acts are spoiled. The choicest viands should 
be nicely served. Some give their alms as they would throw buns 
to the bears at the Zoo, more for the pleasure of seeing them feed 
than anything else. Lady Superior leaves some food and money 
with the poor cottagers, who, needy as they are, sadly miss the 
kind words which should have accompanied the gift. How much 
sweeter the provisions would have tasted had the bread been 
buttered with a smile, and the basket lined with Christian love. 
Thank God, there are some parsons, and parsons''wives too, who 
are veritable angels of mercy. Like nightingales, they fly into 
the solitary shades, and 'midst the gloom of woe and poverty pour 
out the melody of gracious words and holy deeds. But wherein 
lies the secret of their success? Is it so much in what they say 
and do and give, as in how it is said and done and given? Apples 



568 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

of gold are all the better for being in pictures of silver, and *' a 
word spoken in due season, how good is it ! " We should go to 
the poor and suffering, remembering that a kind providence alone 
has made us to differ, earnestly desiring their spiritual welfare, and 
acting and speaking as humbly and naturally as possible. And 
when we come to pray with such, we need especial grace, lest it 
should be a matter of mere routine or course. 

I heard of a parson lately who visited a poor man supposed to 
be dying. While this spiritual adviser was with the invalid, his 
wife intimated her intention of slipping off to the neighboring 
township to buy some candles. The evening drew on apace, — 
indeed it was getting dark when the interview began. After a 
little very ordinary conversation, the ** clerk in holy orders " pro- 
ceeded to say " Farewell," and added, as he took the wasted han'd 
of his parishioner, " I would have prayed with you, my friend, but 
your wife is such a time fetching the candles, and I cannot wait." 
Would you believe it? His precious book of prayers was abso- 
lutely necessary ; it was too dark to read, and therefore devotion 
was impossible ! Thanks be to the darkness then, and blest be 
the evening shade that put their veto on such absurd formality, 
and spared the dying man the mockery of being prayed for from 
a book. 

Hearty prayer is the only sort that can be acceptable at such a 
time, either to the sufferer for whom it is offered, or to the Prayer- 
Hearer to whom it is presented. " Lord, teach us how to pray," 
especially when we kneel beside the couch of the dying, or in the 
houses of the poor ! As a relieving contrast to so sad a case, I 
cannot refrain from telling of how another colonial parson went 
about doing good. The story runs that he was stopped by a gen- 
tleman in blue at dead of night while in the act of carrying a great 
roll of blankets down the street When challenged by the officer, 
he simply said, " It 's all right," and attempted to proceed. "No," 
said Robert, ''you don't "get over me so easy as all that." And not 
until the lantern light flashed on the supposed robber's face, and 
revealed the countenance of a well-known ecclesiastical dignitary, 
was the watchman of the night content to let the blanket-bearer 
" move on." 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 569 

During the day this reverend gentleman had found out a neces- 
sitous case, and promised covering and clothing; but, what with 
Gather calls and business, he had forgotten his morning promise. 
But when he himself retired to rest, and gladly wrapped himself 
in -thick, warm coverlets (for the night was cold), he bethought 
him of the needy ones, and, regardless of his own comfort, hur- 
ried out into the keen night air to perform his labor of love. No 
wonder such a man is honored and beloved, although, if we may 
judge from this incident, " he 's not a bit like a parson." Cannot 
we " go and do likewise? " We are all priests and ministers if we 
are God's children ; and since it appears that a professional style 
and clergy cut are not helpful in winning the ears and hearts of 
rhen, may not the humblest and lowliest look the more confidently 
for success in telling of the Saviour's love to the poor and needy? 

As for those Christians who are supposed to occupy a higher 
position in society, the religion of Jesus has done but little for 
them if it does not make them remember that *' the rich and poor 
meet together : the Lord is the maker of them all." 

Christ's example and teaching both- tell us that the art of reach- 
ing men is to be men. We can do angels' work without soaring 
aloft on angels' wings and looking down on everybody else. We 
must stoop to conquer, — indeed, no action done for Jesus involves 
a stoop. *' He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." 

" Lord, for ever at Thy side 

May my place, my portion be ; 
Strip me of the robe of pride, 
Clothe me with humility." 



''JESUS FOR ME!" 

The old man was very deaf, so he sat close to the edge of the 
platform. During service he appeared happy and interested, so I 
asked him, when all was over, how he heard this time. Said he, 
"I got on better to-day"; and he seemed so glad that I half 
hoped he had heard most of the sermon. "Well, how much of it 



570 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

did you manage to catch?" I asked. He replied, "Only three 
words, but they were good ones, — * Jesus for me ! ' " This inci- 
dent has suggested the following hnes : — 

A floweret bloomed in valley land, 

It drank soft dews by night, 
The summer zephyr wafted it, 

But still it pined for light. 
It said (you could not hear, but see), 
With scent-cup drooping helplessly, 
" Sunshine for me ! Sunshine for me ! " 

O Jesus ! light of earth and heaven ! 

Shine on my darkened soul ; 
Rise on me, with Thy healing wings 

Restore and make me whole : " 

The balm of Gilead is in Thee, 
Go — creature aid and sympathy. 
Jesus for me ! Jesus for me ! 



A helpless, broken, bleating lamb 

Lay in the deep ravine. 
And blood-spots marked the dangerous way 

The wanderer had been: 
It said — with every wound a plea — 
" Have pity on my misery. 
The fold for me, the fold for me." 

O Jesus ! Bishop of my soul ! 

r m weary, wandering, cold ; 
Come 'cross the hills to bear me back ; 

Replace me in Thy fold : 
My soul restore, my Shepherd be. 
Who is a pardoning God like Thee ? 
Jesus for me ! Jesus for me ! 



A sea-bird circled round the ship. 

Then lighted on a spar ; 
One tried to make it prisoner, — 

It swiftly flew afar. 
And screamed, in flying, " Wings are free, 
For sea-fowls must have liberty. 
Ocean for me ! Ocean for me ! " 



THOMAS SPURGEON. 571 

O Jesus ! Blest Deliverer ! 

Since Thou hast burst my bands, 
My faith-winged heart cannot be held 

By any sinful hands : 
If free indeed, I '11 evil flee, 
Thy boundless love shall be my sea. 
Jesus for me ! Jesus for me ! 



A spark flew upward from the fire, 
Seeking the sun's bright glow ; 

The parent claimed its tiny child, 
And it rejoiced to go : 

And said in tones of sparkling glee, 

As up it sped obediently, 

" The sun for me ! The sun for me ! " 

Jesus ! Sun of righteousness ! 
May I not rise as well ? 

May I not live and move in Thee ? 
May I not with Thee dwell ? 

1 love, for Thou hast loved me : 
The spark of love flies back to Thee. 
Jesus for me ! Jesus for rrie ! 



A matron hasteth back to home, 

The villagers all greet ; 
They bring her tokens of their love, 

And waken music sweet ; 
Yet satisfied she cannot be : 
** My lord," she says, " I long to see ; 
My spouse for me, my spouse for me." 

O Jesus ! Husband ! Once in heaven, 
Nor harps nor crowns afford 

One half the joy this hope can bring, — 
" For ever with the Lord." 

'* Amen ! " say I, " so let it be. 

In time and through eternity. 

Jesus for me ! Jesus for me ! " 



5/2 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 



THE HOLY GHOST IS HERE. 

The Holy Ghost is here, 
Where saints in prayer agree ; 
As Jesu's parting gift, He 's near 
Each pleading company. 

Not far away is He, 
To be by prayer brought nigh, 
But here in present majesty. 
As in His courts on high. 

He dwells within our soul, 
An ever-welcome Guest ; 
He reigns with absolute control 
As Monarch in the breast. 

Our bodies are His shrine, 
And He th' indwelling Lord. 
All hail, thou Comforter divine, 
Be evermore adored ! 

Obedient to Thy will, 
We wait to feel Thy power ! 
O Lord of life, our hopes fulfil, 
And bless this hallowed hour ! 



C. H. Spurgeon. 



XXXII. 
SERMONS. 



As to serving the Lord with cold hearts and drowsy souls, there has been 
too much of it; and it causes religion to wither. Men ride stags when they 
hunt for gain, and snails when they are on the road to heaven. Preachers go 
on seesawing, droning, and prosing, and the people fall to yawning and folding 
their arms, and then say that God is withholding His blessing. Every sluggard, 
when he finds himself enlisted in the ragged regiment, blames his luck, and 
some churches have learned the same wicked trick. I believe that when Paul 
plants and Apollos waters, God gives the increase ; and I have no patience 
with those wlio throw the blame on God, when it belongs to themselves. — 
C. H. Spukgeon. 



SERMONS. 



OUR book would be incomplete without a selection from the 
sermons of Mr. Spurgeon. But here we confess to a diffi- 
culty; our heart would prompt their publication wholesale, but 
our limited pages can carry only little of this precious freight. 
The literary merit which Mr, Spurgeon's sermons possess is a 
minor consideration. Their strong and pure doctrine, scriptural 
teaching, earnest, loving persuasion, exaltation of Jesus as Lord, 
and clear gospel exposition render them priceless to the appre- 
ciative hearer and reader. 

But though we cannot here reproduce their golden sound, we 
are consoled with the reflection that nearly two thousand pub- 
lished discourses, lectures, and addresses of this indefatigable 
preacher maybe had through the publishing and importing houses 
of the country. 

And here we would remark, that it augurs well for our faith 
that an enterprising house is now publishing, with Pastor Spur- 
geon's approval, his grand commentary on the Psalms, " The 
Treasury of David," ^ the greatest literary effort of his hfe. In 
justice to this splendid and much-needed work, of several volumes, 
we would not mar its value by extracts, which would necessarily 
be brief and unsatisfactory. 

The two following sermons were preached by Mr. Spurgeon 
in his twenty-first year to immense congregations in Exeter Hall. 
Since that date many have departed " from the faith, giving heed 
to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils ; " philosophizing 
teachers have arisen who in the name of charity cry smooth 
1 Funk & Wagnalls, New York. $2.00 per volume. 



5/6 LIFE AND LABORS 'OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

things, and very uncharitshly give away what is not their own, 
namely, the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures and the absolute 
Deity of Jesus Christ. But our sturdy preacher has not drifted 
with the age. To-day he preaches the Living Oracles with added 
strength and ripened experience. Style and language may have 
undergone modifications, but his charming voice still rings with 
no uncertain sound, and his sermons are ever saturated with 
Bible teaching. His testimony is a constant protest against the 
insipid rationalizing of apostate preachers. Thank God, many are 
with him who reverence the Bible and hold to *' the faith once 
delivered to the saints." Such will win in the end ; for when the 
flattery of fools shall melt away, and compromising ministers who 
bend to the times like a nose of wax shall receive the due rewards 
of their deeds, these true witnesses for God shall abide in the favo'r 
of their Lord. And who can number the many timid disciples 
whose hearts have been stirred and whose faith has been embold- 
ened by the precious example of England's faithful preacher? To 
the matchless grace of God let it be ascribed that many arise and 
call him blessed. 



THE BIBLE. 

A SERMON, DELIVERED ON MARCH 1 8, 1 85 5, BY PASTOR C. H. SPURGEON. 

"I have written to him the great things of My law, but they were counted as a 
strange thing." — HosEA viii. 12. 

This is God's complaint against Ephraim. It is no mean proof 
of His goodness that He stoops to rebuke His erring creatures ; it 
is a great argument of His gracious disposition that He bows His 
head to notice terrestrial affairs. He might, if He pleased, wrap 
Himself with night as with a garment; He might put the stars 
around His wrist for bracelets, and bind the suns around His brow 
for a coronet; He might dwell alone, far, far above this world, up 
in the seventh heaven, and look down with calm and silent in- 
difference upon all the doings of His creatures ; He might do as 
the heathens supposed their Jove did, sit in perpetual silence, 
sometimes nodding his awful head to make the Fates move as he 



SERMONS. 577 

pleased, but never taking thought of the little things of earth, 
disposing of them as beneath his notice, engrossed within his own 
being, swallowed up within himself, living alone and retired ; and 
I, as one of his creatures, might stand by night upon a mountain 
top, and look upon the silent stars, and say, ** Ye are the eyes of 
God, but ye look not down on me ; your light is the gift of His 
omnipotence, but your rays are not smiles of love to me. God, 
the mighty Creator, has forgotten me ; I am a despicable drop in 
the ocean of creation, a sere leaf in the forest of beings, an atom 
in the mountain of existence. He knows me not; I am alone, 
alone, alone." But it is not so, beloved. Our God Is of another 
order. He notices every one of us. There is not a sparrow or 
a worm but is found in His decrees. There is not a person upon 
whom His eye is not fixed. Our most secret acts are known to 
Him. Whatsoever we -do or bear or suffer, the eye of God still 
rests upon us, and we are beneath His smile — for w^e are His 
people ; or beneath His frown — for we have erred from Him, 

Oh, how ten-thousand-fold merciful is God, that, looking down 
upon the race of man, He does not smite it out of existence. We 
see from our text that God looks upon man, for He says of 
Ephraim, " I have written to him the great things of My law, but 
they were counted as a strange thing." But see how when He 
observes the sin of man, He does not dash him away and spurn 
him with His foot ; He does not shake him by the neck over the 
gulf of hell, until his brain doth reel, and then drop him for ever, 
but rather He comes down from heaven to plead with His crea- 
tures ; He argues with them ; He puts Himself, as It were, upon 
a level with the sinner, states His grievances, and pleads His 
claim. O Ephraim, I have written unto thee the great things of 
My law, but they have been unto thee as a strange thing ! I 
come here to-night in God's stead, my friends, .to plead with you 
as God's ambassador, to charge many of you with a sin ; to lay 
it to your hearts by the power of the Spirit, so that you may be 
convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of a judgment'to come. 
The crime I charge you with is the sin of the text. God has 
written to you the great things of His law, but they have been 
unto you as a strange thing. It is concerning this blessed book, 

37 



578 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

the Bible, that I mean to speak to-night. Here lies my text, — 
this Word of God. Here is the theme of my discourse, — a theme 
which demands more eloquence than I possess; a subject upon 
which a thousand orators might speak at once ; a mighty, vast, 
incomprehensive theme, which might engross all eloquence 
throughout eternity, and still it would remain unexhausted. 

Concerning the Bible I have three things to say to-night, and 
they are all in my text: first, its author, "/ have written; " sec- 
ondly, its subjects, — the great things of God's law; and thirdly, 
its common treatment, — it has been accounted by most men a 
strange thing. 

I. First, then, concerning this book, who is the author? The 
text says that it is God. " / have written to him the great things 
of My law." Here lies my Bible — who wrote it? I open it, and 
I find it consists of a series of tracts. The first five tracts were 
written by a man called Moses. I turn on and I find others. 
Sometimes I see David is the penman, at other times, Solomon. 
Here I read Micah, then Amos, then Hosea. As I turn further 
on, to the more luminous pages of the New Testament, I see 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Paul, Peter, James, and others; 
but when I shut up the book, I ask myself who is the author of 
it? Do these men jointly claim the authorship? Are they the 
compositors of this massive volume? Do they between them- 
selves divide the honor? Our holy religion answers, "No!" 
This volume is the writing of the living God ; each letter was 
penned with an Almighty finger; each word in it dropped from 
the Everlasting lips, each sentence was dictated by the Holy 
Spirit. Albeit, that Moses was employed to write his histories 
with his fiery pen, God guided that pen. It may be that Davfd 
touched his harp and let sweet psalms of melody drop from his 
fingers, but God moved his hands over the living strings of his 
golden harp. It may be that Solomon sang canticles of love, or 
gave forth words of consummate wisdom, but God directed his 
lips, and made the preacher eloquent. If I follow the thundering 
Nahum when his horses plough the waters, or Habbakuk when 
he sees the tents of Cushan in affliction ; if I read Malachi, when 
the earth is burning like an oven ; if I turn to the smooth page of 



SERMONS. 579 

John, who tells of love, or the rugged, fiery chapters of Peter, 
who speaks of the ^ fire devouring God's enemies; if I turn to 
Jude, who launches forth anathemas upon the foes of God, — every- 
where I find God speaking: it is God's voice, not man's; the 
word's are God's words, the words of the Eternal, the Invisible, 
the Almighty, the Jehovah of this earth. This Bible is God's 
Bible ; and when I see it I seem to hear a voice springing up from 
it, saying, " I am the book of God : man, read me. I am God's 
writing: open my leaf, for I was penned by God: read it, for He 
is my author, and you will see Him visible and manifest every- 
where." " I have written to him the great things of My law." 

How do you know that God wrote the book? That is just 
what I shall not try to prove to you. I could, if I pleased, to a 
demonstration, for there are arguments enough, there are reasons 
enough, did I care to occupy your time to-night in bringing them 
before you ; but I shall do no such thing. I might tell you, if I 
pleased, that the grandeur of the style is above that of any mortal 
writing, and that all the poets who have ever existed could not, 
with all their works united, give us such sublime poetry and such 
mighty language as is to be found in the Scriptures. I might 
insist upon it that the subjects of which it treats are beyond the 
human intellect; that man could never have invented the grand 
doctrines of a Trinity in the Godhead ; man could not have told 
us anything of the creation of the universe ; he could never have 
been the author of the majestic idea of Providence, that all things 
are ordered according to the will of one great Supreme Being, 
and work together for good. I might enlarge upon its honesty, 
since it tells the faults of its Writers ; its unity, since it never belies 
itself; its master simplicity, that he who runs may read it; and I 
might mention a hundred more things, which would all prove to a 
demonstration that the book is of God. But I come not here to 
prove it. I am a Christian minister, and you are Christians, or 
profess to be so ; and there is never any necessity for Christian 
ministers to make a point of bringing forth infidel arguments in 
order to answer them. It is the greatest folly in the world. Infi- 
dels, poor creatures, do not know their own arguments till we 
tell them, and then they glean their blunted shafts to shoot 



58o LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

them at the shield of truth again. It is folly to bring for^vard 
these firebrands of hell, even if we are well prepared to quench 
them. Let men of the world learn error of themselves ; do not 
let us be propagators of their falsehoods. True, there are some 
preachers who are short of stock, and want them to fill up ! But 
God's own chosen men need not do that; they are taught of God, 
and God suppHes them with matter, with language, and with 
power. There may be some one here fo-night who has come 
without faith, a man of reason, a free-thinker. With him I have 
no argument at all. I profess not to stand here as a controver- 
sialist, but as a preacher of things that I know and feel. But 
I too have been Hke him. There was an evil hour when once I 
slipped the anchor of my faith; I cut the cable of my belief; I no 
longer moored myself hard by the coasts of revelation ; I allowed 
my vessel to drift before the wind ; I said to Reason, ■' Be thou my 
captain ; " I said to my own brain, ** Be thou my rudder ; " and I 
started on my mad voyage. Thank God it is all over now; but I 
will tell you its brief history. It was one hurried sailing over the 
tempestuous ocean of free-thought. I went on, and as I went the 
skies began to darken; but to make 'up for that deficiency, the 
waters were brilliant with coruscations of brilliancy. I saw sparks 
flying upwards that pleased me, and I thought, *' If this be free- 
thought, it is a happy thing." My thoughts seemed gems, and I 
scattered stars with both my hands. But anon, instead of these 
coruscations of glory, I saw grim fiends, fierce and horrible, start 
up from the waters, and as I dashed on they gnashed their teeth 
and grinned upon me ; they seized the prow of my ship, and 
dragged me on, while I, in part, gloried at the rapidity of my 
motion, but yet shuddered at the terrific rate with which I passed 
the old landmarks of my faith. As I hurried forward with an 
awful speed, I began to doubt my very existence ; I doubted if 
there were a world, I doubted if there were such a thing as myself. 
I went to the very verge of the dreary realms of unbelief I went 
to the very bottom of the sea of infidelity. I doubted everything. 
But here the Devil foiled himself; for the very extravagance of the 
doubt proved its absurdity. Just when I saw the bottom of that 
sea, there came a voice which said, "And can this doubt be true?" 



SERMONS. 581 

At this very thought I awoke. I started from that death-dream, 
which God knows might have damned my soul and ruined this 
my body, if I had not awoke. When I arose Faith took the helm ; 
from that moment I doubted not. Faith steered me back ; Faith 
cried, "Away, away ! " I cast my anchor on Calvary; I lifted my 
eye to God ; and here I am, alive and out of hell. Therefore 
I speak what I do know. I have sailed that perilous voyage ; I 
have come safe to land. Ask me again to be an infidel ! No ; 
I have tried it ; it was sweet at first, but bitter afterwards. Now, 
lashed to God's gospel more firmly than ever, standing as on a 
rock of adamant, I defy the arguments of Hell to move me, for 
*' I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is 
able to keep that which I have committed unto Him." But I shall 
neither plead nor argue this night. You profess to be Christian 
men, or else you would not be here. Your profession may be 
lies ; what you say you are, may be the very contrary to what you 
really are ; but still I suppose you all admit that this is the Word 
of God. A thought or two then upon it. '' I have written to him 
the great things of My law." 

First, my friends, stand over this volume and admire its au- 
thority. This is no common book. It is not the sayings of the 
sages of Greece ; here are not the utterances of philosophers of 
past ages. If these words were written by man, we might reject 
them; but oh, let me think the solenin thought — that this book is 
God's handwriting, that these words are God's. Let me look at its 
date : it is dated from the hills of heaven. Let me look at its let- 
ters : they flash glory on my eye. Let me read the chapters : they 
are big with meaning and mysteries unknown. Let me turn over 
the prophecies : they are pregnant with unthought-of wonders. 
Oh, Book of books ! And wast thou written by my God ? Then 
will I bow before thee. Thou Book of vast authority, thou art a 
proclamation from the Emperor of Heaven : far be it from me to 
exercise my reason in contradicting thee. Reason ! thy place is to 
stand and find out what this volume means, not to tell what this 
book ought to say. Come thou, my reason, my intellect, sit thou 
down and listen, for these words are the words of God. I do not 
know how to enlarge on this thought. Oh, if you could ever 



582 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

remember that this Bible was actually and really written by God ! 
Oh, if ye had been let into the secret chambers of heaven, if ye 
had beheld God grasping His pen and writing down these letters, 
then surely ye would respect them. But they are just as much 
God's handwriting as if you had seen God write them. This Bible 
is a book of authority ; it is an authorized book, for God has writ- 
ten it. Oh, tremble, tremble, lest any of you despise it ! Mark its 
authority, for it is the Word of God. 

Then, since God wrote it, mark its truthfulness. If I had written 
it, there would be worms of critics who would at once swarm on it, 
and would cover it with their evil spawn ; had I written it, there 
would be men who would pull it to pieces at once, and perhaps 
quite right too. But this is the Word of God. Come, search, ye 
critics, and find a flaw; examine it from its Genesis to its Revela- 
tion, and find an error. This is a vein of pure gold, unalloyed by 
quartz or any earthy substance. This is a star without a speck ; 
a sun without a blot ; a light without darkness ; a moon without its 
paleness ; a glory without a dimness. O Bible ! it cannot be said 
of any other book, that it is perfect and pure ; but of thee we can 
declare all wisdom is gathered up in thee, without a particle of folly. 
This Is the judge that ends the strife where wit and reason fail. 
This is the book untainted by any error, but Is pure, unalloyed, 
perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote It. Ah! charge God 
with error if ye please ; tell Him that His book Is not what it 
ought to be. I have heard men, with prudish and mock modesty, 
who would like to alter the Bible; and (I almost blush to say it) 
I have heard ministers alter God's Bible, because they were afraid 
of it. Have you never heard a man say, ^' He that believeth and 
is baptized, shall be saved ; but he that believeth not," — What 
does the Bible say? — " shall be damned^ But that does not happen 
to be polite enough, so they say, *' shall be condemned!' Gentle- 
men, pull the velvet out of your mouths ; speak God's W^ord ; we 
want none of your alterations. I have heard men in prayer, instead 
of saying, " Make your calling and election sure," say, " Make your 
calling and salvation sure." Pity they were not born when God 
lived, far, — far back, that they might have taught God how to 
write. Oh, impudence beyond all bounds ! Oh, full-blown self- 



SERMONS. 583 

conceit! To attempt to dictate to the All-wise, — to teach the 
Omniscient and instruct the Eternal ! Strange that there should 
be men so vile as to use the penknife of Jehoiakim, to cut passages 
of the Word because they are unpalatable. Oh, ye who dislike 
certain portions of the Holy Writ, rest assured that your taste 
is corrupt, and that God will not stay for your little opinion. 
Your dislike is the very reason why God wrote it, because you 
ought not to be suited ; you have no right to be pleased. God 
wrote what you do not like ; He wrote the truth. Oh, let us bend 
in reverence before it, for God inspired it. It is pure truth. Here 
from this fountain gushes aqua vitce^ — " the water of life," without 
a single particle of earth ; here from this sun there cometh forth 
rays of radiance, without the mixture of darkness. Blessed Bible, 
thou art all truth ! 

Yet once more, before we leave this point let us stop and con- 
sider the merciful nature of God in having written us a Bible at 
all. Ah, He might have left us without it, to grope our dark way, 
as blind men seek the wall ; He might have suffered us to wander 
on with the star of reason as our only guide. I recollect a story 
of Mr. Hume, who so constantly affirmed that the light of reason 
is abundantly sufficient. Being at a good minister's house one 
evening, he had been discussing the question, and declaring his 
firm belief in the sufficiency of the light of nature. On leaving, 
the minister offered to hold him a candle, to light him down the 
steps. He said, " No, the light of nature would be enough; the 
moon would do." It so happened that the moon was covered with 
a cloud, and he fell down the steps. " Ah," said the minister, 
" you had better have had a little light from above, after all, Mr. 
Hume." So, supposing the light of nature to be sufficient, we had 
better have a little light from above too, and then we shall be sure 
to be right. Better have two lights than only one. The light of 
creation is a bright light. God maybe seen in the stars; His name 
is written in gilt letters on the brow of night; you may discover 
His glory in the ocean weaves, yea, in the trees of the field. But it 
is better to read it in two books than in one. You will find it here 
more clearly revealed, for He has written this book Himself, and 
He has given you the key to understand it, if you have the Ho'y 



584 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Spirit. Ah, beloved, let us thank God for this Bible; let us love 
it; let us count it more precious than much fine gold. 

But let me say one thing before I pass on to the second point ; 
If this be the Word of God, what will become of some of you 
who have not read it for the last month? " Month, sir ! I have not 
read it for this year." Ay, there are some of you who have not 
read it ^t all. Most people treat the Bible very politely. They 
haveasmall pocketvolume, neatly bound; they put awhite pocket- 
handkerchief around it, and carry it to their places of worship ; 
when they get home, they lay it up in a drawer till next Sunday 
morning; then it comes out again for a little bit of a treat and 
goes to chapel ; that is all the poor Bible gets in the way of an 
airing. That is your style of entertaining this heavenly messenger. 
There is dust enough on some of your Bibles to write ** damnation" 
with your fingers. There are some of you who have not turned 
over your Bibles for a long, long, long while, and what think 
you? I tell you blunt words, but true words. What will God say 
at last? Wh,en you shall come before Him, He shall say: "Did 
you read My Bible? " ** No." " I wrote you a letter of mercy; 
did you read it?" "No." "Rebel! I have sent thee a letter 
inviting thee to Me; didst thou ever read it?" "Lord, I never 
broke the seal ; I kept it shut up." " Wretch ! " says God, " then 
thou deservest hell, if I sent thee a loving epistle and thou wouldst 
not even break the seal: what shall I do unto thee? " Oh, let it 
not be so with you ! Be Bible readers ; be Bible searchers. 

II. Our second point is, the subjects on which the Bible treats. 
The words of the text are these : " I have written to him the great 
things of My law." The Bible treats of great things, and of great 
things only. There is nothing in this Bible which is unimportant. 
Every verse in it has a solemn meaning, and if we have not found 
it out yet, we hope yet to do it. You have seen mummies wrapped 
round and round with folds of linen. Well, God's Bible is like 
that; it is a vast roll of white linen, woven in the loom of truth. 
So you will have to continue unwinding it, roll after roll, before 
you get the real meaning of it from the very depth ; and when 
you have found, as you think, a part of the meaning, you will still 
need to keep on unwinding, unwinding, and all eternity you will 



SERMONS. 585 

be unwindincr the words of this wondrous volume. Yet there is 
nothing in the Bible but great things. Let me divide, so as to be 
more brief. First, all things in this Bible are great; but, secondly, 
some things are the greatest of all. 

All tilings in the Bible are great. Some people think it does 
not matter what doctrines you belie\e ; that it is immaterial what 
church you attend ; that all denominations are alike. Well, I dis- 
like Mrs. Bigotry above almost all people in the world, and I never 
give her any compliment or praise. But there is another woman 
I hate equally as much, and that is Mrs. Latitudinarianism, a well- 
known character, who has made the discovery that all of us are 
alike. Now, I believe that a man may be saved in any church. 
Some have been saved in the Church of Rome, — a few blessed 
men, whose names I could mention here. I know, blessed be God ! 
that multitudes are saved in the Church of England: she has a 
host of pious, praying men in her midst. I think that all sections 
of Protestant Christians have a remnant according to the election 
of grace, and they had need to have, some of them, a little salt, 
for otherv/ise they would go to corru-ption. But when I say that, 
do you imagine that I think them all on a level? Are they all 
alike truthful? One sect says infant baptism is right; another 
says it is wrong : yet you say they are both right. I cannot see 
that. One teaches we are saved by free grace ; another says that 
we are not, but are saved by free will : and yet you believe they 
are both right. I do not understand that. One says that God 
loves His people, and never leaves off loving them ; another says 
that He did not love His people before they loved Him ; that He 
often loves them, and then ceases to love them, and turns them 
away. They may be both right in the main ; but can they be 
both right when one says '' Yes," and the other says *' No." I 
must have a pair of spectacles to enable me to look backvv-ards 
and forwards at the same time before I can see that. It cannot be, 
sirs, that they are both right. But some say they differ upon non- 
essentials. This text says : " I have written to him the great things 
of My law." There is nothing in God's Bible which is not great. 
Did ever any of you sit down to see which was the purest religion? 
" Oh," say you, " we never took the trouble. We went just where 



586 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

our father and mother went." Ah, that is a profound reason in- 
deed ! You went where your father and mother did. I thought 
you were sensible people ; I did n't think you went where other 
people pulled you, but went of your own selves. I love my parents 
above all that breathe, and the very thought that they believed 
a thing to be true helps me to think it is correct; but I have 
not followed them. I belong to a different denomination, and I 
thank God I do. I can receive them as Christian brethren and 
sisters ; but I never thought that because they happened to be 
one thing I was to be the same. No such thing. God gave me 
brains, and I will use them; and if you have any intellect, use it 
too. Never say it does n't matter. It does matter. Whatever 
God has put here is of eminent importance : He would not have 
written a thing that was indifferent. Whatever is here is of some 
value ; therefore, search all questions ; try all by the Word of God. 
I am not afraid to have what I preach tried by this book. Only 
give me a fair field and no favor and this book ; if I say anything 
contrary to it, I will withdraw it the next Sabbath-day. By this I 
stand, by this I fall. Search and see; but don't say, *'It does not 
matter." Jf God says a thing, it must always be of importance. 

But while all things in God's Word are important, all are 7iot 
equally important. There are certain fundamental and vital truths 
which must be believed, or otherwise no man would be saved. If 
you want to know what you must believe if ye would be saved, 
you will fi];id"the great things of God's law between these two 
covers ; they are all contained here. As a sort of digest or sum- 
mary of the great things of the law, I remember an old friend of 
mine once saying: "Ah, you preach the three R's, and God will 
always bless you!" I said: ** What are the three R's?" And 
he answered : ** Ruin, redemption, and regeneration." They con- 
tain the sum and substance of divinity. R for ruin. We were all 
ruined in the fall ; we were all lost when Adam sinned, and we are 
all ruined by our own transgressions ; we are all ruined by our 
own evil hearts and our own wicked wills ; and we all shall be 
ruined unless grace saves us. Then there is a second R for re- 
demption. We are ransomed by the blood of Christ, — a Larr^ 
without blemish and without spot; we are rescued by His power; 



SERMONS. 587 

we are ransomed by His merits ; we are redeemed by His strength. 
Then there is R for regeneration. If we would be pardoned, we 
must also be regenerated; for no man can partake of redemption 
unless he is regenerate. Let him be as good as he pleases, let 
him serve God, as he imagines, as much as he likes ; unless he is 
regenerate, and has a new heart, a new birth, he will still be in 
the first R, — that is, ruin. These things contain an epitome of 
the gospel. I believe there is a better epitome in the five points 
of Calvinism : Election according to the foreknowledge of God ; 
the natural depravity and sinfulness of man; particular redemp- 
tion by the blood of Christ ; effectual calling by the power of the 
Spirit; and ultimate perseverance by the efforts of God's might. 
I think all those need to be believed in order to salvation ; but I 
should not like to write a creed like the Athanasian, beginning with 
*' Whosoever shall be saved, before all things it is necessary that 
he should hold the Catholic faith, which faith is this," — when I 
got so far I should stop, because I should not know what to write. 
I hold the Catholic faith of the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing 
but the Bible. It is not for me to draw up creeds ; but I ask you 
to search the Scriptures, for this is the word of Hfe. 

God says : " I have written to him the great things of My law." 
Do you doubt their greatness? Do ye think they are not worth 
your attention ? Reflect a moment, man ! Where art thou stand- 
ing now? 

" Lo, on a narrow neck of land, 

'Twixt two unbounded seas I stand; 

An inch of time, a moment's space, 

May lodge me in yon heavenly place, 
Or shut me up in- hell." 

I recollect standing on a sea-shore once, upon a narrow neck of 
land, thoughtless that the tide might come up. The tide kept 
continually washing up on either side, and, rapt in thought, I 
still stood there, until at last there was the greatest difficulty in 
getting on shore ; the waves had washed between me and the 
shore. You and I stand each day on a narrow neck, and there 
is one wave coming up there. See, how near it is to your foot ! 
And lo ! another follows at every tick of the clock. ** Our hearts, 
like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave." We 



588 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

are always tending downwards to the grave each moment that we 
Hve. This book tells me that if I am converted, when I die there 
is a heaven of joy and love to receive me; it tells me that angels' 
pinions shall be stretched, and I, borne by strong cherubic wings, 
shall out-soar the lightning, and mount beyond the stars, up to the 
throne of God, to dwell for ever 



With God eternally shut in." 

Oh, it makes the hot tear start from my eye ! It makes my heart 
too big for this my body, and my brain whirls at the thought of 

" Jerusalem, my happy home, 
Name ever dear to me." 

Oh, that sweet scene beyond the clouds, — sweet fields arrayed in 
living green, and rivers of delight ! Are not these great things ? 
But then, poor unregenerate soul, the Bible says, if thou art lost, 
thou art lost for ever; it tells thee, that if thou diest without 
Christ, without God, there is no hope for thee, that there is a place 
without a gleam of hope, where thou shalt read in burning letters, 
"Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not; " it tells you that ye shall 
be driven from His presence with a " Depart, ye cursed." Are not 
these great things? Yes, sirs, a^ heaven is desirable, as hell is ter- 
rible, as time is short, as eternity is infinite, as the soul is precious, 
as pain is to be shunned, as heaven is to be sought, as God is eter- 
nal, and as His w^ords are sure, these are great things, things ye 
ought to listen to. 

HI. Our last point is the treatment which the holy Bible receives 
in this world. It is accounted a strange thing. What does that 
mean, — the Bible accounted a strange thing? In the first place, it 
means that it is very strange to some people, because tJiey never 
read it. I remember reading on one occasion the sacred story of 
David and Goliath, and there was a person present, positively 
grown up to years of maturity, who said to me, " Dear me ! what 
an interesting story; what book is that in?" And I recollect a 
person once coming to me in private. I spoke to her about her 
soul ; she told me how deeply she felt, how she had a desire to serve 
God, but she found another law in her members. I turned to a 



SERMONS. 589 

passage in Romans, and read to her, '' The good that I would, I 
do not ; and the evil which I would not, that I do ! " She said, 
** Is that in the Bible? I did not know it." I did not blame her 
because she had no interest in the Bible till then ; but I did won- 
der that there could be found persons who knew nothing about 
such a passage. Ah ! you know more about your ledgers than your 
Bible ; you know more about your day-books than what God has 
written. Many of you will read a novel from beginning to end, 
and what have you got? A mouthful of froth when you have 
done. But you cannot read the Bible : that solid, lasting, substan- 
tial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard 
of neglect ; while anything that man writes, a catch of the day, is 
greedily devoured. ** I have written unto him the great things 
of My law, but they were counted as a strange thing." Ye have 
never read it. I bring the broad charge against you. Perhaps ye 
say I ought not to charge you with any such thing. I always 
think it better to have a worse opinion of you than too good an 
one. I charge you with this: you do not read your Bible. 
Some of you never have read it through. I know I speak what 
your heart must say is honest truth. You are not Bible-readers. 
You say you have the Bible in your houses : do I think you are 
such heathens as not to have a Bible? But when did you read 
it last? How do you know that your spectacles, which you have 
lost, have not been there for the last three years? Many people 
have not turned over its pages for a long time, and God might 
say unto them, " I have written unto you the great things of My 
law, but they have been accounted unto you a strange thing." 
• Others there be who read the Bible, but when they read it, they 
say it is so horribly dry. That young man over there says it is a 
** bore ; " that is the word he uses. He says, " My mother said to 
me, ' When you go up to town, read a chapter every day.' Well, 
I thought I would please her, and I said I would. I am sure I 
wish I had not. I did not read a chapter yesterday or the day- 
before. We were so busy. I could not help it." You do not love 
the Bible, do you? '* No ; there is nothing in it which is interest- 
ing." Ah ! I thought so. But a little while ago / could not see 
anything in it. Do you know why? Blind men cannot see, can 



590 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

they? But when the Spirit touches the scales of the eyes they fall 
off, and when He puts eye-salve on, then the Bible becomes pre- 
cious. I remember a minister who went to see an old lady, and 
he thought he would give her some precious promises out of the 
Word of God. Turning to one, he saw written in the margin, 
'* P," and he asked, ** What does this mean?" *' That means pre- 
cious, sir." Further down he saw ** T. and P.," and he asked what 
the letters meant. "That," she said, '* means tried and proved, for 
I have tried and proved it." If you have tried God's Word and 
proved it; if it is precious to your souls, then you are Christians; 
but those persons who despise the Bible have *' neither part nor lot 
in the matter." If it is dry to you, you will be dry at last in hell. 
If you do not esteem it as better than your necessary food, there 
is no hope for you, for you lack the greatest evidence of your 
Christianity. 

Alas ! alas ! the worse case is to come. There are some people 
who hate the Bible, as well as despise it. Is there such an one 
stepped in here? Some of you said, "Let us go and hear what 
the young preacher has to say to us." This is what he hath to 
say to you: " Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish." This 
is what he hath to say to you : " The wicked shall be turned into 
hell, and all that forget God." And this, again, he has to say to 
you : " Behold there shall come in the last days mockers like your- 
selves, walking after your own lusts." But more : he tells you to- 
night that if you are saved, you must find salvation here. There- 
fore despise not the Bible, but search it, read it, and come unto it. 
Rest thee well assured, O scorner, that thy laughs cannot alter 
truth, thy jests cannot avert thine inevitable doom. Though in 
thy hardihood thou shouldst make a league with death, and sign 
a covenant with hell, yet swift justice shall o'ertake thee, and 
strong vengeance strike thee low.' In vain dost thou jeer and mock, 
for eternal verities are mightier than thy sophistries ; nor can thy 
smart saying alter the divine truth of a single word of this volume 
of revelation. Oh ! why dost thou quarrel with thy best friend 
and ill treat thy only refuge? There yet remains hope even for the 
scorner, — hope in a Saviour's veins; hope in the Father's mercy; 
hope in the Holy Spirit's omnipotent agency. 



SERMONS. 591 

I have done when I have said one word. My friend the philoso- 
pher says it may be very well for me to urge people to read the 
Bible ; but he thinks there are a great many sciences far more in- 
teresting and useful than theology. Extremely obliged to yon for 
your opinion, sir. What science do you mean? The science of 
dissecting beetles and arranging butterflies? "No," you say, " cer- 
tainly not." The science, then, of arranging stones and telling us 
of the strata of the earth? "No, not exactly that." Which science, 
then? "Oh, all sciences," say you, "are better than the science 
of the Bible." Ah, sir, that is your opinion; and it is because 
you are far from God that you say so. But the science of Jesus 
Christ is the most excellent of sciences. Let no one turn away 
from the Bible because it is not a book of learning and wisdom. 
It is. Would ye know astronomy? It is here: it tells you of the 
Sun of Righteousness and the Star of Bethlehem. Would ye know 
botany? It is here : it tells you of the plant of renown, — the Lily 
of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon. Would ye know geology 
and mineralogy? You shall learn it here: for you may read of 
the Rock of Ages, and the White -Stone with a name graven 
thereon, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. 
Would ye study history? Here is the most ancient of all the 
records of the history of the human race. Whate'er your science 
is, come and bend o'er this book; your science is here. Come 
and drink out of this fair fount of knowledge and wisdom, and ye 
shall find yourselves made wise unto salvation. Wise and foolish, 
babes and men, gray-headed sires, youths and maidens, — I speak 
to you, I plead with you, I beg of you respect your Bibles and 
search them out, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and 
these are they which testify of Christ. 

I have done. Let us go home and practise what we have heard. 
I have heard of a woman, who, when she was asked what she re- 
membered of the minister's sermon, said, " I don't recollect any- 
thing of it. It was about short weights and bad measures, and I 
didn't recollect anything but to go home and burn the bushel." 
So if you will remember to go home and burn the bushel, if you 
will recollect to go home and read your Bibles, I shall have said 
enough. And may God, in His infinite mercy, when you read your 



592 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

Bibles, pour into your soul the illuminating rays of the Sun of 
Righteousness, by the agency of the ever-adorable Spirit; then 
you will read to your profit and to your soul's salvation. 
We may say of the Bible : — 

"God's cabinet of revealed counsel 't is. 
Where weal and woe are ordered so 
That every man may know which shall be his, 
Unless his own mistake false application make. 

" It is the index to eternity. 
He cannot miss of endless bliss, 
That takes this chart to steer by ; 
Nor can he be mistook, that speaketh by this book. 

"It is the book of God. What if I should 
Say, God of books, let him that looks 
Angry at that expression, as too bold, 
His thoughts in silence smother till he find such another." 



THE ETERNAL NAME. 

A SERMON, DELIVERED ON MAY 27, 1 85 5, BY PASTOR C. H. SPURGEON. 
" His name shall endure for ever." — Ps. Ixxii. 17. 

No one here requires to be told that this is the name of Jesus 
Christ, which *' shall endure for ever." Men have said of many of 
their works, ** they shall endure for ever;" but how much have 
they been disappointed ! In the age succeeding the flood, they 
made the brick, they gathered the slime, and when they had piled 
old Babel's tower, they said, '* This shall last for ever." But God 
confounded their language ; they finished it not. By His lightnings 
He destroyed it, and left it a monument of their folly. Old Pha- 
raoh and the Egyptian monarchs heaped up their pyramids, and 
they said, " They shall stand for ever," and so indeed they do 
stand ; but the time is approaching when age shall devour even 
these. So with all the proudest works of man, whether they have 
been his temples or his monarchies, he has written " everlasting " 



SERMONS. 593 

on them ; but God has ordained their end, and they have passed 
away. The most stable things have been evanescent as shadows 
and the bubbles of an hour, speedily destroyed at God's bidding. 
Where is Nineveh, and where is Babylon? Where the cities of 
Persia? Where are the high places of Edom? Where are Moab, 
and the princes of Ammon? W'here are the temples of the heroes 
of Greece ? Where the millions that passed from the gates of 
Thebes? Where are the hosts of Xerxes, or where the vast 
armies of the Roman emperors? Have they not passed away? 
And though in their pride they said, " This monarchy is an ever- 
lasting one, this queen of the seven hills shall be called the 
eternal city," its pride is dimmed ; and she who sat alone, and said, 
" I shall be no widow, but a queen for ever," she hath fallen, hath 
fallen, and in a little while she shall sink like a millstone in the 
flood, her name being a curse and a by-word, and her site the 
habitation of dragons and of owls, Man calls his works eternal ; 
God calls them fleeting. Man conceives that they are built of 
rock ; God says, ** Nay, sand, or, worse than that, they are air." 
Man says he erects them for eternity; God blows but for a 
moment, and where are they? Like baseless fabrics of a vision, 
they are past and gone for ever. 

It is pleasant, then, to find that there is one thing which is to 
last for ever. Concerning that one thing we hope to speak to- 
night, if God will enable me to preach and you to hear. '* His 
name shall endure for ever." First, ^/le religion sanctified by His 
name shall endure for ever; secondly, the Jionor of His name shall 
endure for ever; and thirdly, the saving, comforting power of His 
name shall endure for ever. 

I. First, the religion of the name of Jesus is to endure for ever. 
When impostors forged their delusions, they had hopes that per- 
adventure they might in some distant age carry the world before 
them, and if they saw a few followers gather around their stan- 
dard, who off"ered incense at their shrine, then they smiled, and 
said, '' My religion shall outshine the stars and last through eter- 
nity." But how mistaken have they been ! How many false 
systems have started up and passed away ! Why, some of us 
have seen, even in our short lifetime, sects that rose like Jonah's 

38 



594 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

gourd in a single night, and passed away as swiftly. We too have 
beheld prophets rise, who have had their hour; yea, they have had 
their day, as dogs all have, but like the dogs, their day has passed 
away, and the impostor, where is he? And the arch-deceiver, 
where is he? Gone and ceased. Specially might I say this of 
the various systems of infideHty. Within a hundred and fifty 
years how has the boasted power of reason changed ! It has 
piled up one thing, and then another day it has laughed at its own 
handiwork, demolished its own castle, and constructed another, 
and the next day a third. It hath a thousand dresses. Once it 
came forth like a fool with its bells, heralded by Voltaire ; then it 
came out a braggart bully, Hke Tom Paine ; then it changed its 
course and assumed another shape, till forsooth we have it in the 
base, bestial secularism of the present day, which looks for nought 
but the earth, keeps its nose .upon the ground, and, like the beast, 
thinks this world is enough, or looks for another through seeking 
this. Why, before one hair on this head shall be gray, the last 
secularist shall have passed away; before many of us are fifty 
years of age a new infidelity shall come, and to those who say, 
'* Where will saints be? " we can turn round and say, "Where are 
you?" And they will answer, ** We have altered our names." 
They will have altered their names, assumed a fresh shape, put on 
a new form of evil ; but still their nature will be the same, oppos- 
ing Christ, and endeavoring to blaspheme His truths. On all their 
systems of religion, or non-religion, — ^^ for that is a system, too, — 
it may be written, '* Evanescent: fading as the flower, fleeting as 
the meteor, frail and unreal as a vapor." But of Christ's religion 
it shall be said, " His name shall endure for ever." Let me now 
say a few things, — not to prove it, for that I do not wish to do, — 
but to give you some hints whereby possibly I may one day prove 
it to other people, that Jesus Christ's religion must inevitably 
endure for ever. 

And first, we ask those who think it shall pass away, when was 
there a time when it did not exist? We ask them whether they 
can point their finger to a period when the religion of Jesus was 
an unheard-of thing. " Yes," they will reply, " before the days of 
Christ and His apostles." But we answer, " Nay, Bethlehem was 



SERMONS. 595 

not the birthplace of the gospel ; though Jesus was born there, 
there was a gospel long before the birth of Jesus, and a preached 
one too, although not preached in all its simplicity and plainness, 
as we hear it now. There was a gospel in the wilderness of Sinai ; 
although it might be confused with the smoke of the incense, and 
only to be seen through slaughtered victims, yet there was a 
gospel there." Yea, more, we take them back to the fair trees of 
Eden, where the fruits perpetually ripened and summer always 
rested, and amid these groves we tell them there was a gospel, 
and we let them hear the voice of God as He spoke to recreant 
man, and said, ** The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's 
head." And having taken them thus far back, we ask, " Where 
were false religions born? Where was their cradle?" They 
point us to Mecca, or they turn their fingers to Rome, or they 
speak of Confucius, or the dogmas of Buddha. But we say, 
you only go back to a distant obscurity: we take you, to the 
primeval age; we direct you to the days of purity; Ave take you 
back to the time when Adam -first trod the earth ; and then we 
ask you whether it Is not likely that as the first-born, it will not 
also be the last to die ; and as it was born so early, and still exists, 
whilst a thousand ephemera have become extinct, whether it does 
not look m.ost probable that when all others shall have perished 
like the bubble upon the wave, this only shall swim, like a good 
ship upon the ocean, and still shall bear its myriad souls, not to 
the land of shades, but across the river of death to the plains of 
heaven. 

We ask next, supposing Christ's gospel to become extinct, what 
religion is to supplant it? We inquire of the wise man, who says 
Christianity is soon to die, " Pray, sir, what religion are we to have 
in its stead? Are we to have the delusions of the heathen, who 
bow before their gods and worship images of wood and stone? 
Will ye have the orgies of Bacchus or the obscenities of Venus? 
Would ye see your daughters once more bowinr; down before 
Thammuz, or performing obscene rites as of old?" Nay, ye would 
not endure such things ; ye would say, ** It must not be tolerated 
by civilized men." "Then what.would ye have? Would ye have 
Romanism and its superstition?" Ye will say, ** No, God help us, 



596 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

never." They may do what they please with Britain, but she is 
too wise to take old Popery back again while Smithfield lasts, and 
there is one of the signs of martyrs there ; ay, while there breathes 
a man who marks himself a freeman, and swears by the Constitu- 
tion of Old England, we cannot take Popery back again. She may 
be rampant with her superstitions and her priestcraft, but with one 
consent my hearers reply, ''We will not have Popery." Then 
what will ye choose ? Shall it be Mohammedanism ? Will ye choose 
that, with all its fables, its wickedness and libidinousness? I will 
not tell you of it. Nor will I mention the accursed imposture of 
the West that has lately arisen. We will not allow Polygamy 
while there are men to be found who love the social circle and 
cannot see it invaded. We would not wish, when God hath given 
to man one wife, that he should drag in twenty as the companions 
of that one. We cannot prefer Mormonism ; we will not, and we 
shall not. Then what shall we have in the place of Christianity? 
" Infidelity! " you cry, do you, sirs? And would you have that? 
Then vv'hat would be the consequence? What do many of them 
promote? Communist views, and the real disruption of all society 
as at present established. Would you desire Reigns of Terror here 
as they had in France? Do you wish to see all society shattered, 
and men wandering like monster icebergs on the sea, dashing 
against each other, and being at last utterly destroyed? God save 
us from Infidelity! What can you have, then? Nought. There 
is nothing to supplant Christianity. Wliat religion shall overcome 
it? There is not one to be compared with it. If we tread the 
globe round, and search from Britain to Japan, there shall be no 
religion found so just to God, so safe to man. 

We ask the enemy once more, suppose a religion were to be 
found which would be preferable to the one v/e love, by what means 
would you crush ours? How would you get rid of the religion 
of Jesus? and how would you extinguish His name? Surely, sirs, 
ye would never think of the old practice of persecution, would 
you? Would ye once more try the efiicacy of stakes and fires to 
burn out the name of Jesus? Would ye try racks and thumb- 
screws? Would ye give us the boots and instruments of torture? 
Try it, sirs, and ye shall not quench Christianity. Each martyr, 



SERMONS. 597 

dipping his finger in his blood, would write its honors on the 
heavens as he died; and the very flame that mounted up to 
heaven would emblazon the skies with the name of Jesus. Per- 
secution has been tried. Turn to the Alps; let the valleys of 
Piedmont speak; let Switzerland testify; let France, with its St. 
Bartholomew; let England, with all its massacres, speak. And 
if ye have not crushed it yet, shall ye hope to do it? Shall ye? 
Nay, a thousand are to be found, and ten thousand if it were 
necessary, who are willing to march to the stake to-morrow; and 
when they are burned, if ye could take up their hearts, ye would 
see engraven upon each of them the name of Jesus. ** His name 
shall endure for ever;" for how can ye destroy our love to it? 
"Ah, but," ye say, "we would try gentler means than that!" 
Well, what would ye attempt? Would ye invent a better religion? 
We bid you do it, and let us hear it ; we have not yet so much as 
believed you capable of such a discovery. What then? Would 
ye wake up one that should deceive us and lead us astray? We 
bid you do it; for it is not possible to deceive the elect. You 
may deceive the multitude, but God's .elect shall not be led astray. 
They have tried us. Have they not given us Popery? Have they 
not assailed us with Puseyism? Are they not tempting us with 
Arminianism by the wholesale? And do we therefore renounce 
God's truth? No; we have taken this for our motto, and by it 
we will stand. " The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the 
Bible," is still the religion of Protestants ; and the self-same truth 
which moved the lips of Chrysostom, the old doctrine that rav- 
ished the heart of Augustine, the old faith which Athanasius de- 
clared, the good old doctrine that Calvin preached, is our gospel 
now; and, God helping us, w^e will stand by it till we die. How 
will ye quench it? If ye wish to do it, where can ye find the 
means? It is not in your power. Aha ! aha ! aha ! we laugh you 
to scorn. 

But you will quench it,- will you? You will try it, do you say? 
And you hope you will accomplish your purpose? Yes; I know 
you will, when you have annihilated the sun ; when you have 
quenched the moon with drops of your tears; when you have 
dried up the sea with your drinking. Then shall ye do it. And 
yet ye say ye will ! 



598 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

And next, I ask you, suppose you did, what would become of 
the world then? Ah! were I eloquent to-night, I might perhaps 
tell you. If I could borrow the language of a Robert Hall I might 
hang the world in mourning; I might make the sea the great chief 
mourner, with its dirge of howling winds and its wild death-march 
of disordered waves; I might clothe all nature, not in robes of 
green, but in garments of sombre blackness ; I would bid hur- 
ricanes howl the solemn wailing, — that death-shriek of a world. 
For what would become of us if we should lose the gospel? As 
for me, I tell you fairly, I would cry, ''Let me begone ! " I would 
have no wish to be here without my Lord ; and if the gospel be 
not true, I should bless God to annihilate me this instant, for I 
would not care to live if ye could destroy the name of Jesus 
Christ. But that would not be all, that one man should be miser-' 
able, for there are thousands and thousands who can speak as I do. 
Again, what would become of civilization if ye could take Chris- 
tianity away? Where would be the hope of a perpetual peace? 
Where governments? Where your Sabbath-schools? Where all 
your societies? Where everything that ameliorates the condition 
of man, reforms his manners, and elevates his character? Where? 
Let Echo answer, "Where?" They would be gone, and not a scrap 
of them would be left. And where, O men, would be your hope 
of heaven? And where the knowledge of eternity? Where a 
help across the river death? Where a heaven? And where bliss 
everlasting? All were gone if His name did not endure for ever. 
But we are sure of it, we know it, we affirm it, we declare it; we 
beheve, and ever will, that " His name shall endure for ever " — 
ay, for ever ! let who will try to stop it. 

This is my first point. I shall have to speak with rather bated 
breath upon the second, although I feel so warm within as well as 
without, that I would to God I could speak with all my strength 
as I might do. 

IL But, secondly, as His religion, so the hoitor of His name is to 
last for ever. Voltaire said he lived in the twilight of Christianity. 
He meant a lie; he spoke the truth. He did live in its twilight; 
but it was the twilight before the morning, — not the twilight of 
the evening, as he meant to say; for the morning comes, when 



SERMONS. 599 

the light of the sun shall break upon us In its truest glory. The 
scorners have said that we should soon forget to honor Christ, and 
that one day no man should acknowledge Him. Now, we assert 
again, in the words of my text, " His name shall endure for ever," 
as to the honor of it. Yes, I will tell you how long it will endure. 
As long as on this earth there is a sinner who has been reclaimed 
by Omnipotent grace, Christ's name shall endure; as long as there 
is a Mary ready to wash His feet with tears and wipe them with the 
hair of her head ; as long as there breathes a chief of sinners who 
has washed himself in the Fountain opened for sin and for unclean- 
ness ; as long as there exists a Christian who has put his faith in 
Jesus and found Him his delight, his refuge, his stay, his shield, his 
song, and his joy, there will be no fear that Jesus' name will cease 
to be heard. We can never give up that name. We let the Uni- 
tarian take his gospel without a Godhead in it, we let him deny 
Jesus Christ; but as long as Christians — true Christians — live, as 
long as we taste that the Lord is gracious, have manifestations of 
His love, sights of His face, whispers of His mercy, assurances of 
His affection, promises of His grace, "hopes of His blessing, we 
cannot cease to honor His name. But if all these were gone, — if 
we were to cease to sing His praise, would Jesus Christ's name be 
forgotten then? No; the stones would sing, the hills would be an 
orchestra, the mountains would skip like rams, and the little hills 
like lambs. For is He not their creator? And if these lips and the 
lips of all mortals were dumb at once, there are creatures enough 
in this wide world besides. Why, the sun would lead the chorus; 
the moon would play upon her silver harp, and sweetly sing to her 
music ; stars would dance in their measured courses ; the shoreless 
depths of ether would become the home of songs ; and the void 
immensity would burst out into one great shout, *'Thou art the 
glorious Son of God ; great is Thy majesty and infinite Thy power." 
Can Christ's name be forgotten? No; it is painted on the skies; 
it is written on the floods; the winds whisper it; the tempests 
howl it; the seas chant it; the stars shine it; the beasts low it; the 
thunders proclaim it; earth shouts it; heaven echoes it. But if that 
were gone, — if this great universe should all subside in God, just 
as a moment's foam subsides into the wave that bears it and is lost 



600 LIFE AND LABORS OF C. H. SPURGEON. 

forever, — would His name be forgotten then? No. Turn your 
eyes up yonder ; see heaven's terra firma. " Who are these that 
are arrayed in white, and whence came they?" " These are they 
that came out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes, 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb ; therefore they 
are before the throne of God, and praise Him day and night in His 
temple." And if these were gone; if the last harp of the glorified 
had been touched with the last fingers ; if the last praise of the 
saints had ceased; if the last hallelujah had echoed through the 
then deserted vaults of heaven, for they would be gloomy then ; if 
the last immortal had been buried in his grave, — if graves there 
might be for immortals, — would His praise cease then? No, by 
heaven, no; for yonder stand the angels; they too sing His glory; 
to Him the cherubim and seraphim do cry without ceasing, wheh 
they mention His name in that thrice holy chorus, " Holy, holy, 
holy. Lord God of armies." But if these were perished ; if an- 
gels had been swept away ; if the wing of seraph never flapped the 
ether; if the voice of the cherub never sang His flaming sonnet; 
if the living creatures ceased their everlasting chorus ; if the meas- 
ured symphonies of glory were extinct in silence, — would His 
name then be lost? Ah, no! for as God upon the throne He sits, 
the everlasting One, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And if the 
universe were all annihilated, still would His name be heard, for 
the Father would hear it, and the Spirit would hear it, and, deeply 
graven on immortal marble in the rocks of ages, it would stand, 
— Jesus the Son of God; co-equal with His Father. ''His name 
shall endure for ever." 

HL And so shall ihQ power of His name. Do you inquire what 
this is? Let me tell you. Seest thou yonder thief hanging upon 
the cross? Behold the fiends at the foot thereof, with open 
mouths, charming themselves with the sweet thought that another 
soul shall give them meat in hell. Behold the death-bird, flutter- 
ing his wings o'er the poor wretch's head; Vengeance passes by and 
stamps him for her own ; deep .on his breast is written " A con- 
demned sinner ; " on his brow is the clammy sweat expressed from 
him by agony and death. Look in his heart: it is filthy with the 
crust of years of sin ; the smoke of lust is hanging within, in black 



SERMONS. 6oi 

festoons of darkness ; his whole heart is hell condensed. Now 
look at him. He is dying. One foot seems to be in hell; the 
other hangs tottering in life, — only kept by a nail. There is a 
power in Jesus' eye. That thief looks : he whispers, " Lord, re- 
member me." Turn your eye again there. Do you see that thief? 
Where is the clammy sweat? It is there. Where is that horrid 
anguish? It is not there. Positively there is a smile upon his lips. 
The fiends of hell, where are they? There are none; but a bright 
seraph is present, with his wings outspread, and his hands ready 
to snatch that soul, now a precious jewel, and bear it aloft to the 
palace of the Great King. Look within his heart: it is white with 
purity. Look at his breast: it is not written ** condemned," but 
** justified." Look in the book of life: his name is graven there. 
Look on Jesus' heart: there on one of the precious stones He 
bears that poor thief's name. Yea, once more, look ! Seest thou 
that bright one amid the glorified, clearer than the sun and fair as 
the moon? That is the thief! That is the power of Jesus; and 
that power shall endure for ever. He who saved the thief can save 
the last man who shall ever live ; for still 

" There is a fountain filled with blood 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
Lose all their guilty stains. 

" The dying thief rejoiced to see 
That fountain in his day ; 
Oh, may I there, though vile as he, 
Wash all my sins away. 

" Dear dying Lamb ! that precious blood 
Shall never lose its pow^r 
Till all the ransomed Church of God 
Be saved to sin no more." 

His powerful name shall endure for ever. 

Nor is that all the power of His name. Let me take you to 
another scene, and ye shall witness somewhat else. There on that 
death-bed lies a saint. No gloom is on his brow, no terror on his 
face ; weakly but placidly he smiles ; he groans, perhaps, but yet 
he sings. He sighs now and then, but oftener he shouts. Stand 



6q2 life and labors of c. h. spurgeon. 

by him. " My brother, what makes thee look in Death's face with 
such joy?" *' Jesus," he whispers. '' What makes thee so placid 
and so calm? " **The name of Jesus." See, he forgets everything! 
Ask him a question; he cannot answer it, — he does not under- 
stand you. Still he smiles. His wife comes, inquiring, ** Do you 
know my name?" He answers, *' No." His dearest friend re- 
quests him to remember his intimacy. " I know you not," he 
says. Whisper in his ear, "Do you know the name of Jesus?" 
and his eyes flash glory, and his face beams heaven, and his lips 
speak sonnets, and his heart bursts with eternity, for he hears the 
name of Jesus, and that name shall endure for ever. He who 
landed one in heaven will land me there. Come on, death ! I 
will mention Christ's name there. O grave! this shall be my 
glory, the name of Jesus ! Hell dog ! this shall be thy death, — • 
for the sting of death is extracted, — Christ our- Lord. " His 
name shall endure for ever." 

I had a hundred particulars to give you ; but my voice fails, so 
I had better stop. You will not require more of me to-night; you 
perceive the difficulty I feel in speaking each word. May God 
send it home to your souls ! I am not particularly anxious about 
my own name, whether that shall endure for ever or not, provided 
it is recorded in my Master's book. George Whitfield, when 
asked whether he would found a denomination, said, " No ; 
Brother John Wesley may do as he pleases, but let my name 
perish ; let Christ's name last for ever." Amen to that ! Let my 
name perish ; but let Christ's name last for ever. J shall be quite 
contented for you to go away and forget me. I shall not see the 
faces of half of you again, I dare say; you may never be per- 
suaded to step within the walls of a conventicle ; you will think 
it perhaps not respectable enough to come to a Baptist meeting. 
Well, I do not say we are a very respectable people ; we don't pro- 
fess to be. But this one thing we do profess, we love our Bibles; 
and if that is not respectable to do so, we do not care to be had 
in esteem. But we do not know that we are so disreputable after 
all, for I believe, if I may state my own opinion, that if Protestant 
Christendom were counted out of that door, — not merely every 
real Christian, but every professor, — I believe the Paedobaptists 



SERMONS. 603 

would have no very great majority to boast of. We are not, after 
all, such a very small, disreputable sect. Regard us in England, 
we may be ; but take America, Jamaica, and the West .Indies, and 
include those who are Baptists in principle, though not openly so. 
and we surrender to none, not even to the Established Church 
of this country, in numbers. That, however, we care very little 
about; for I say of the Baptist name, let it perish, but let Christ's 
name last for ever. I look forward with pleasure to the day when 
there will not be a Baptist living. I hope they will soon be gone. 
You will say, "Why?" Because when everybody else sees bap- 
tism by immersion, we shall be immersed into all sects, and our 
sect will be gone. Once give us the predominance, and we are 
not a sect any longer. A man may be a Churchman, a Wesleyan, 
or an Independent, and yet be a Baptist. So that I say I hope the 
Baptist name will soon perish ; but let Christ's name last for ever. 
Yea, and yet again, much as I love dear Old England, I do not 
believe she will ever perish. No, Britain, thou shalt never perish ! 
for the flag of Old England is nailed to the mast by the prayers of 
Christians, by the efforts of Sunday-schools and her pious men. 
But I say, let even England's name perish ; let her be merged in 
one great brotherhood ; let us have no England, and no France, 
and no Russia, and no Turkey; but let us have Christendom. And 
I say heartily, from my soul, let nations and national distinctions 
perish, but let Christ's name last for ever ! Perhaps there is only 
one thing on earth that I love better than the last I have men- 
tioned, — and that is, the pure doctrine of unadulterated Calvinism. 
But if that be wrong, — if there be anything in that which is false, 
— I for one say let that perish too, and let Christ's name last for 
ever. Jesus ! Jesus ! Jesus ! Jesus ! " Crown Him Lord of all ! " 
You will not hear me say anything else. These are my last words 
in Exeter Hall for this time. ** Jesus ! Jesus ! Jesus ! Crown 
Him Lord of all ! " 



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